Interlopers
by TSCA
Summary: Etheria has been saved, but Horde Prime now knows its location. Now the Rebellion must contend with the ruler of the known universe as he prepares to take what is rightfully his. Now Adora must embrace the role of She-Ra, while Catra is afforded yet another chance to take down her greatest enemy. Has a sidestory, Swift Wind's Adventure across the Eighth Dimension.
1. Chapter 1: Turmoil

The world spun around Scorpia as she cradled her head in her claws. She was running behind Adora one moment as they fled from Hordak's laboratory in some crazy mixed up world, and the next thing she knew she was on the floor back in the familiar halls of the Fright Zone. She blinked in the dim lighting and slowly sat up to examine her surroundings.

Everything seemed normal. She only had one set of memories, there were no strange flashbacks, time did not skip around, and the doors stayed firmly in their place here. Adora must have fixed the portal like she said she would.

Scorpia sighed in relief. "Guess I'll have to dislike her a reasonable amount from now on."

"Don't move!" Entrapta shouted from somewhere to her right. "Wow, you did not take to all that phase-shifting well."

Scorpia squinted down the hallway. "I... what? Entrapta? I thought Catra sent you to Beast Island!"

Scorpia could see Entrapta's face fall. "Oh, well… I guess she tried, but the world fell apart before anything could happen. So after Adora fixed it I kicked the guard in his shins and made a run for it. I figured I could count on you for some help, right?" Entrapta laughed nervously. "You're not going to turn me in, are you?"

"You?" Scorpia stood up and drew herself to her full height. "No. Not you."

Entrapta smiled. "Hooray! That is such a relief! You have no idea how badly being sent to Beast Island would set back my research!" She paused to consider the statement. "Then again, there's so little data on Beast Island that I could probably get something worthwhile out of it. Ooh, I should plan an expedition!"

Scorpia clicked her claws in front of Entrapta's face. "Hey, focus on me for a sec. Are we going to be ok?"

"As long as we don't open any more portals, yes! By my estimate, the machine should have burned itself out, and if Adora reclaimed her sword we should have absolutely zero chance of opening more portals on our end."

"Alright," Scorpia nodded. "Then I guess we should get going."

She gently took hold of Entrapta's arm and led her down the hallway. Scorpia's calm and deliberate pace belied the anger on her face.

"Uh, where are we going?" Entrapta asked nervously. "Because, ah, the lab is the other way, you know?"

"We're going to find Hordak." Scorpia said flatly.

They travelled through the building in silence until they arrived at Hordak's throne room. They could hear Catra castigating Adora and the Princesses as they drew near, while Hordak sat in silence nursing his wounds.

"I promise you, Lord Hordak, once the Horde comes through that portal I will personally see to it that the Princess Alliance is burned to the ground and Adora spends the rest of her days in the darkest hole I can find! Or better yet, I'll keep her on a leash and parade her out in the streets so everyone can see how–"

Catra's jaw dropped as she caught sight of Scorpia and Entrapta.

"Hi Catra!" Entrapta waved at her with a strand of prehensile hair.

Hordak's eyes shot open in shock. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Scorpia must have helped Entrapta escape, Lord Hordak!" Catra growled. "Guards! Seize them!"

"Belay that order." Scorpia stared down Hordak's honor guard coldly. "Lord Hordak, I'm here to report that Catra stunned Entrapta when she tried to warn you about how unstable the portal was. The only reason we're still alive is because Adora shut it down."

Catra's eyes darted around the room as she saw everyone focusing their attention on her.

"Oh wow, you must be really desperate to come up with that story," she laughed. "Princesses, am I right? You can't trust any of 'em. Lord Hordak, let me take care of this. I guarantee you won't have any more Princess troubles from now on."

Hordak rose from his throne with his fists clenched. "I think that I shall take care of this myself."

His metal fist collided with Catra's diaphragm, knocking her off of his dais. A cry of pain echoed through the room as she rolled down the stairs and landed on the floor in a crumpled heap. She tried to get up, but a guard promptly shocked her with his baton until her muscles gave out.

"Entrapta. Scorpia." Hordak turned his attention to the two princesses. "I am grateful that you know where your loyalties lie. It is a rare and precious commodity in this day and age.."

Scorpia glanced down at Catra. "What are you going to do to Catra?"

"That is none of your concern," Hordak spat harshly. He stopped himself abruptly and took in a deep breath. "Force Captain Scorpia, I understand that you may still hold some sentiment for Catra, but we cannot let our emotions cloud our judgement. Catra has been given enough chances. Do not waste any more time on her."

Hordak looked at his guards. "I want Catra stripped of her rank. Throw her in a holding cell until I can arrange a proper punishment."

The guards saluted and dragged Catra out of the throne room. Scorpia watched them stoically, but remained silent, while Entrapta seemed on the verge of breaking out in tears. Hordak walked down to them and put a hand on Entrapta's shoulder.

"Please retire for the night; you must take care to recuperate after all that you have been through today."

"Yeah, of course," Entrapta mumbled. "I guess I should go."

Scopria took hold of Entrapta again and led her out of the throne room. She made it to Entrapta's room before she collapsed onto her bed and broke down in tears.

"Hey, come on," Entrapta said. "You can't do that. We've got to keep it together. A scientist never gets distracted from their work! We have to soldier on!"

"I'm not a scientist! And I just lost my best friend." She slammed her claws into Entrapta's bed. "Was I not good enough for her? I did everything I could to make her happy, but she never wanted any of it. And now she's gone!"

Entrapta's mind raced back to what Adora had told her. "Catra makes bad decisions."

"Yeah," Scorpia sniffed. "And I can't save her from them this time. My Wildcat is on her own now."

She buried her head in her claws and fell silent. Tears trickled down Entrapta's cheeks as well, and she rested her head against Scorpia's back. Her hair wrapped itself around both of them until they fell asleep on the bed.

* * *

Bright Moon was somber after the Princesses returned. Queen Angella was gone, and while other monarchs might have had the benefit of a well planned succession, or time to acclimate their people to natural death or abdication, Queen Angella was torn from her people in an instant.

There was not even a body to mourn over.

Glimmer ordered the Bright Moon guards to double their presence in the city and hand out aid to comfort the citizens. But instead of addressing the people as her parents had done in times of trouble, Glimmer chose to wall herself off from others. She sat on the throne and scanned document after document listlessly, preparing for rulership over Bright Moon.

"Hey, I've got a new set of reports for you to look over," Bow said as he carried in an armful of scrolls. "Are you holding up ok?"

"Not really," she sighed. "I always figured mom would be there for me, you know? She lived for a thousand years, and seemed like she'd go on forever. She was all I had when dad died. She was always there for me. And now the future of Bright Moon rests in my hands, and mine alone. Possibly for the next thousand years." She threw up her hands. "A thousand years, Bow! That's fifty times longer than I've been alive! I don't even know what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow!"

"Then happy low, lie down! Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," Bow murmured.

"Pardon?"

Bow laughed. "Oh, just some ancient play. The sentiment is true enough, though. I know we can only help so much, but I promise you that we're all here for you and will do whatever we can to help you through this."

Glimmer stood up and hugged him, crushing the scrolls between them. "Then let's see it through together, Bow."

* * *

Adora refused to give into despair. If there was one thing she had learned by now, time spent in melancholy could be spent training. The world could not afford a She-Ra who was unable to fight. If she had made even one mistake, reality itself would have ended.

She hefted the sword onto her shoulder and began the long walk from Bright Moon into the Whispering Woods to find Light Hope. The woods seemed to shift around her, guiding her to the ruins in record time.

Light Hope was waiting patiently in her chambers, just like she had left her.

"Greetings, Adora. How may I assist you today?"

"I'm here to train." Adora drew the Sword of Protection and transformed into She-Ra. "I need to be stronger."

"It is good to see that you have taken a renewed interest in your duties," Light Hope nodded. "May I ask what has brought about this change?"

Adora tightened her grip on the Sword of Protection. "Reality was nearly destroyed because I wasn't strong enough. We lost Queen Angella because I was too weak. And Swift Wind… I still don't know where Swift Wind is! And now the rest of the Horde is coming for us and I don't know if we'll even stand a chance, but I've got to do something. So here I am."

"I understand. I will begin running training exercises immediately. Would you like to train against robots today, or Horde soldiers?"

"No, Adora growled. "Bring me Catra."

Light Hope nodded approvingly. "I am glad to see that you have found your motivation. It is good to have you back. I will begin the simulation now."

The walls around them were replaced by the dense foliage of the Whispering Woods. Catra stepped out from behind a tree with a feral grin on her face.

"Hey Adora."


	2. Chapter 2: Time Out

The dim green light of the prison complex was the only thing that greeted Catra when she regained consciousness. She was in Shadow Weaver's old cell again, shackled both hand and foot this time.

Shadow Weaver had marked her time in detention with tally marks across the walls. Months had passed for her with nothing to do but wait for her fate to be resolved. Months where she had no idea what would become of her in the end for her disobedience.

Catra swore that if Shadow Weaver could do it, so could she. There was plenty of space on the wall still. Catra walked up to it and scratched her own mark. She looked at it in triumph for a moment before realizing that there was nothing else to do in cell, unless she wanted to flush the toilet and try to drain the Horde's entire water supply.

She sat down and scratched her head. So now what?

The cell's forcefield dropped with a pop and Catra turned her head to see a guard dressed in full body armor carry a dish of goop into the cell and place it just within reach. She knew from experience that this was her only meal of the day. Her stomach rumbled at the prospect of food, even if it could barely be called such.

Catra reached out for the spoon and stirred the food distastefully. It was worse than ration bars, but she was hungry and it would keep her alive for now. She pinched her nose shut and forced it down bite by bite until the dish was empty.

One day down.

* * *

Catra woke up on the second day groggy and unfocused. She held her head in her hands as she tried to gather her wits about her. Was it something she ate? Was Hordak going to poison her and quietly get her out of the way?

She reached over and made another tally on the wall. There was no way that she would let herself perish so ignominiously.

This time, she could hear the guard's footsteps as he approached with her daily meal. Strange – those were supposed to come around lunch time. Unless she had slept in? Catra was a late riser by nature, but never that late.

"So what'll it be today," she said as she saw another plate of goop. "The Chef's Special? Ration bar surprise?"

The guard carefully set the dish in the exact same spot as before, then picked up yesterday's dish and left her alone with her thoughts.

Catra sighed and slowly ate the goop. It was intended to keep prisoners alive, but did not have enough calories to sustain much physical activity, insofar as physical activity was possible in such a small place.

She kicked the plate aside when she was done and threw herself onto the floor. The restraints gnawed at her limbs as she tried to rest. They were light and tethered to the wall by energy, but they weighed her down as if they were made of iron. She shifted fitfully on the floor. It was neither warm nor cold – the cell seemed to be exactly the same temperature that she was. Catra was unsure if it was worse than either alternative.

There was nothing left to do but daydream about how life used to be. When she had a gang in the Crimson Waste. When she was Force Commander. When she still had Adora. When she was a child and never had any responsibilities other than training.

Catra buried her face in her hands and quietly wept.

* * *

There were three scratches on the wall now. Catra stared at them. It was just seventy-two hours. She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. It was barely more than a weekend. She could handle it.

Her ears twitched as the guard drew near. She looked up at him wearily as he brought in her meal.

"Hey." Her voice quivered as she spoke for the first time in what seemed like ages. "Are you busy right now?"

He set the food down and picked up her plate in one swift motion.

Catra reached out to grab him with both hands. The dish he had picked up clattered on the ground and fell off the walkway as he scrambled to get away from her.

"Answer me!" Catra snarled. "I'm talking to you!"

He spared her one fleeting glance before he switched on the forcefield and ran off in terror.

Catra slapped herself in the face.

"Keep it together, Catra," she growled. "You've been through worse. Keep it together."

She had spend longer stuck in the barren Northern Reaches. She had marched for longer to reach the Crimson Waste. But she had people with her then. Even Shadow Weaver had Catra's company, what little of it she provided. Catra had nothing.

Catra forced herself to breathe. So what if she had no one? Who needed them? They were never on her side, not really. Entrapta was only in it for Science, Scorpia was too dumb for her own good, and Adora just wanted a pet.

She was better off on her own, because she was stronger than any of them.

* * *

Four scratches. There were four scratches now. After this, Catra would make a horizontal line to indicate that five days had passed. Then she would begin again with a vertical mark.

She stretched on the floor and began to do calisthenics. Crunches, push-ups, and squats. There might not have been many calories in her diet, but she could afford to spare some. Especially since there was nothing else to do.

The only way she could tell that time was even passing in this place was when the guard came.

Catra kept to the very back of her cell when meal time arrived, and made sure the guard could see that her hands were raised and empty.

"Look, I'm… I'm sorry about yesterday," she mumbled, with her eyes firmly fixed on the ground. "I know it's against regulations to fraternize with the prisoners. I just… look, just don't leave so quickly, alright?"

The guard gently set the new plate of goop on the floor and cleaned up her last meal before walking out again. It had taken him less than a minute.

Catra reached out wearily for the plate and scooped up another helping of goop.

"Here's to me," she sighed.

* * *

The world was falling to pieces around Catra as she battled with Adora for the fate of reality. She had been abused, neglected, and betrayed all her life. This was her only chance to do something that mattered, to win any meaningful victory. Without it, she would be nothing, and Catra refused to be nothing. She had not clawed her way out of non-existence just to lose.

She leaped at Adora with her claws out, and sank them into Adora's throat. There was a horrid shriek, but it was not the cry of pain that a human would make. It was the sound of tearing metal.

Catra blinked and saw that she had gouged five grooves into the side of her cell. She shook her head to clear it. Did she have a dream? Was it a hallucination?

She prayed it was the former. Her sanity was the only thing she had left at this point.

Catra slumped against the wall as she replayed the memories of her last fight with Adora.

_Let's be honest: all of this is your fault._

Tears welled up in her eyes.

_If you hadn't have gotten captured, your sword wouldn't have opened the portal. _

Catra clenched her fists.

_If you hadn't gotten the sword and been the world's worst She-Ra, none of this would have happened. _

Her claws raked the steel walls of the cell, filling the air with an unearthly screech.

_Admit it, Adora! The world would still be standing if you had never come through that portal in the first place!_

Catra froze. That made no sense; she had said it with equal amounts of fury and conviction, but she knew for a fact that Adora was as much of an Etherian as she was. They had grown up together their entire lives.

So what portal was she talking about?

Catra wiped away her tears. What had happened to her after the portal was thrown open?

She could remember being back in the barracks with Adora, and celebrating her promotion. She could remember Adora dragging her out of the Fright zone as the world fell apart around them. She could remember fighting to keep Adora from leaving again, even at the expense of existence itself.

But she lost that fight, just like she had lost everything else. She fell into the void, only to claw her way back out. Everyone else was erased by it, but not her.

What had allowed her to survive? Pure will? Pure spite?

Did she really hate Adora that much?

Catra stared down at her hands. None of it made sense, even accounting for how warped reality was.

Something was wrong. Something was badly wrong. If only she could figure out what it was.

Her head hit the wall with a dull thud. It felt like the answer was just within her grasp. She had known so much when she was in the vortex, but all that knowledge ran away from her like water through her fingers.

All she had was this cell.

Catra reached out for the wall and made a horizontal slash.

Five days.


	3. Chapter 3: Paradigm Shift

Hordak stood in the center of his fitting station as the robotic arms worked on his exoskeleton. For the first time in many years, he felt free of the constant pain that plagued his defective body. It reminded him of when he was a rising star in Horde Prime's armies, when he still had a life worth living.

He looked over at Entrapa fondly as she oversaw the maintenance terminal. Entrapta's honest companionship was a treasure beyond all value after the treachery of Shadow Weaver and her pupils. She was the only one in the Horde who was not loyal out of fear, and her understanding of science surpassed even his own.

When he left Etheria behind, he would have to keep her at his side. It would be a travesty to let her languish in some galactic backwater when she was destined for great things among the stars.

"Lord Hordak! Entrapta!"

They both turned their heads to see Scorpia walking into the room cautiously. "I know I'm not supposed to interrupt anything, but, um, you guys have been in the lab for days, we don't have a second in command, and I can't approve all this paperwork that's piling up! Like… I don't even know what to do about the troop deployments!"

"Ah yes, the grand strategy." Hordak stepped out of the fitting station. "Hand me the folders."

Hordak shuffled through the reports and wrote out comments on each one before he handed them back to Scorpia. "Here are my orders. We should consolidate our troops in defensive positions and withdraw from contested areas for now. We only have to wait out the arrival of Horde Prime, who will trivialize the final conquest of Etheria."

"Understood." Scorpia hesitated for a moment, then continued. "And, if I may ask, what about Catra?"

Hordak's eyes flashed dangerously. "Do not speak to me about that wretch! I shall inform you when I have a suitable punishment for her betrayal."

"Yes sir, I got it, sir!" Scorpia left the lab quicker than she had come in.

Entrapta hovered in front of Hordak anxiously. "Are you ok?"

"Everything is fine, Entrapta." Hordak said. "But now that I think about it, I will need to prepare the Fright Zone for Horde Prime's arrival. Come, perhaps you can assist me in this. I am confident that he too will appreciate your work."

* * *

Out in the vast emptiness beyond Etheria's moons there formed a ripple in space-time. A swirling vortex of green energy grew into an orb many thousands of meters long and glowed like a new sun. From its depths emerged a dagger shaped cruiser escorted by three blocky frigates. The ships were harsh and angular, with little care for anything other than utilitarian aesthetics. The cruiser stretched on for five kilometers and bristled with weaponry, while even the smaller escorts were over a kilometer long.

Horde Prime stood on the bridge of the cruiser and set his gaze upon Etheria. He activated the ship's radio with a flick of his finger and broadcast a message.

"Little brother, it has been a long time. You have accomplished what many have long thought impossible. We will arrive in eight hours. Ready your troops for inspection and let's see what you have accomplished."

After it was done, he looked to the ship's bridge crew. "Captain Pallas, bring the _Helios _into low orbit over the 'Fright Zone'. It is time that we cement our rule over this universe once and for all."

Captain Pallas promptly saluted. "Your will be done, my Lord."

Under his guidance the _Helios _descended from the heavens like the chariot of a god. The ship and its escorts loomed over the Fright Zone like nothing Etheria had seen in living memory. The sight inspired both awe and fear, for this was but a tiny fraction of the Horde's true power.

Entrapta, on the other hand, gazed upon it with wonder.

"Can you imagine what this means?" She shouted to Scorpia. "An intergalactic empire exists far out beyond our world, with resources and technology that we can't even imagine!"

"Yeah, it's something," Scorpia mumbled. She kept her eyes focused on a stack of paperwork in front of her and methodologically stamped them with her Force Captain's seal.

Entrapta tapped her gently on the shoulder. "Hey, so now that Hordak isn't here, I want to ask you something: are you still upset about Catra?"

"No." Scorpia stamped a form hard enough to leave a dent in the table.

Entrapta backed off cautiously. "So, are you ready for the big event this evening? Hordak told me that Horde Prime himself will be here to congratulate him on finding Etheria, and that he has a special honor for me since he was so impressed by my data!"

"It's not like I have anything else going on in my life."

Entrapta fell silent as Scorpia burned through more paperwork, until she came across a letter. Scorpia opened it curiously and gasped.

"It's from Horde Prime himself! He wants me to… no, that can't be right." She showed the letter to Entrapta. "Is that saying what I think it is?"

Entrapta's eyes grew wide as she read the letter. "That's what it says," she nodded.

Scorpia held it in her claws and stared. "Well… isn't that something?"

* * *

Even from her cell in the depths of the Fright Zone, Catra could tell that something was happening. Cleaning crews were scouring every inch of the base, holding cells included. If she played her cards right, she might be able to surprise a janitor as he came in to her cell and take him hostage.

And then what?

Even if she could convince the guards to release her, this was the heart of Horde territory. There was no way to escape on her own and she had no more friends. At this point, she wondered if even Hordak had forgotten about her. It had been a week since her imprisonment, and there was no sign that he had any more interest in her.

"Hey Catra."

Catra's ears perked up as she recognized the voice. "Kyle?"

"Yeah, it's me." He chuckled nervously and gestured to the cart of cleaning supplies next to him. "I, uh, got assigned cleaning duties again."

"Well come on in, then." Catra's tail waved back and forth as she fixed her eyes on Kyle. "You don't have to worry about me, I won't bite. I just want some company, ok? Just someone to talk to. Honestly."

"Yeah, uh, II don't know about that... they told me you might try to take someone hostage…"

Catra rolled her eyes. "Kyle, I'm not going to take you hostage. Hostages have to be valuable."

"Ok, wow…" Kyle grabbed onto his cart and pushed it away. "I'll see if I have time for it after I clean the empties.

Catra's heart sank as he left. "No, Kyle! Kyle! Get back here, Kyle!" She leaped towards the door and strained her energy shackles so hard that they started cackling. "KYLE! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE! KYLE!"

If Kyle heard her, he didn't respond. Silence slowly filled the cell again as Catra sank to her knees. A teardrop hit the floor, slowly followed by a steady stream of tears as the last of her mental barriers collapsed.

* * *

The appearance of the _Helios_ sparked panic in Bright Moon. Although the recent victories of the Princess Alliance had given the citizens hope, they knew too well the ruthless efficiency of the Horde war machine. But while the tanks of the Horde could be taken down with enough effort, the same could not be said of ships in high orbit.

Glimmer sat in her mother's chair as the Princess Alliance held an emergency meeting to discuss the threat of the Horde before them. Her friends who fought by her side to rescue Adora were there, as was Shadow Weaver. Only Adora was absent due to her training with Light Hope.

"Well, isn't this something," Shadow Weaver mused as the last of them filed into the room. "As is often the case, the end of one story is the beginning of another. How will this chapter play out, I wonder?"

"I don't know," Glimmer said, "But I won't dishonor the legacy of my parents by surrendering. We'll keep on fighting, no matter what!"

"A bold stance, but not necessarily a wise one." Shadow Weaver leaned back in her seat and looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Hordak never told me much about Horde Prime, but from what little information I managed to glean, Horde Prime has weapons we cannot even imagine. If we proved to be too troublesome, it would be nothing for him to wipe the planet's surface clean of life."

"But they can't!" Perfuma pointed at the Moonstone. "If they destroy the runestones, they'll damage the planet's control network."

"Wow, what luck," Mermista groaned. "We'll be spared orbital bombardment and have to deal with ground troops."

"Surrender may be our best option."

Everyone stared at Shadow Weaver.

"Horde Prime controls entire galaxies. The resources and affairs of this meager world are insignificant to him. All he wants is our obedience and control over the First One's technology. If such is the price of life, why not pay it? It's certainly cheaper than death."

The room fell silent as they contemplated their prospects. It was only broken when Adora came running in through the doors.

"I'm sorry I'm late!" She panted. "I still have no idea where Swift Wind is, and I got lost in the Whispering Wood..."

Adora trailed off as she saw everyone's somber expressions. "What? The Horde didn't beat us us already, did they?"

"It's not good," Glimmer sighed. "They're over a thousand miles above us and far out of teleportation range."

"Well, that depends." Shadow Weaver leaned forwards. "How much do you trust me, Glimmer?"

Glimmer's eyes hardened. "Not enough to grant you more power."

"I'm hurt," Shadow Weaver said. "After all I've done for you…"

Adora stepped in front of Glimmer. "You did it for yourself. Isn't that what you said? That you wanted to get back at Hordak?"

"You were always quick, Adora," Shadow Weaver laughed. "Well then, if you won't hear me out then I suppose I'll return to my chambers."

The guards escorted Shadow Weaver out of the room. The mood lifted noticeably once she was gone, but was still rather dour.

"So what do we do now?" Adora looked around the table. "Does anyone have any ideas?"

Glimmer looked down at the floor. "I don't know. I… I want to fight, but it would be safer for everyone if I surrendered."

Bow gave her a pat on the back. "Horde Prime hasn't asked us to surrender, so we have some time to plan things out. Why don't we monitor their communications and try to find some weakness or insight into their plans. It'll at least let us know what our options are."

Adora nodded. "Intelligence is key to any successful plan. You go to that, Bow. As for the rest of us..." She took in a deep breath. "This war is going to require us to give up a lot. Maybe even give up everything. If this is too much for you, then I respect your decision to walk away. But if you think the ideals of the Rebellion are still worth fighting for, then I hope you'll join me for combat training with Light Hope."

"We get to train with First One's tech? Sign me up!" Fosta cheered. "I'll crush the Horde with my ice fists!"

Mermisa raised her trident. "Me too! Horde Prime will learn to fear the mighty Sea-Ra!"

Adora laughed and hugged them. "You guys are going to love it!"

"Yeah," Glimmer said. "Maybe some training is just what I need to take my mind off of this."

* * *

The Princess Alliance made their way into Light Hope's chambers in higher spirits after the meeting. The odds were slim, but everyone was going to do what they did best, and that was the most that could be expected. Bow's technological skills had yet to fail them, and when he found an opening they would be ready to exploit it.

Light Hope stood in the middle of the room with the same inscrutable expression she always wore, though it did seem as if she was surprised by the intrusion.

"Princesses, greetings. To what do I owe the honor?"

Adora strode forward. "Light Hope, I know you've emphasized individual training up until now, but I think it would be good to run our simulations with the team so we can focus on our coordination."

Light Hope nodded. "That is very wise, Adora. Let me prepare the simulation; I will give you five minutes to prepare."

"So what should I do?" Frosta asked. "Focus on combos with Mermista? Ice fists?"

"How about a weapon?" Adora flourished her sword. "You'll need more reach on the battlefield."

"Oh, like Mermista's trident!" Frosta summoned a ball of cold magic in her hands and grew an icicle in her hands. "Tada! Ice spear!"

Adora gave her an approving pat on the back. "Good choice. Just remember you need to stab people with it, ok?"

Perfuma raised an eyebrow. "Adora, she's only twelve!"

"If she's not ready to hear it then she's not ready to fight for the Alliance." Adora turned her back to them as the holograms started up. "Get ready, everyone!"

They were in the fields of Plumeria, but not as they knew them. The plant life was withered and the air thick with smoke. Horde drills and factories were everywhere as they tore through the earth in search of resources to fuel their war machine.

A tank turned its attention towards the Princesses and fired their lasers. Adora dodged out of the way with practiced ease while the others scrambled to avoid the barrage. She reached the first tank and swung her sword straight through the turret, causing it to short out and explode.

She turned her head around to see how her friends were doing and saw that they were in melee with Horde soldiers. As she prepared to join the fray, she felt something hit her hard from behind and send her flying forward. Adora rolled with the blow and managed to recover into a kneeling position.

"Hey Adora." Catra sauntered towards her lazily, with a whip in hand.

She swung it around in the air and lashed out at Adora, who quickly raised her harm and let the whip bit into her flesh. She grabbed onto the leather with one hand and cut the whip in half with the other. Now that Catra was disarmed, Adora could charge forward and take her on.

Catra gracefully dodged the attack and leaped over Adora's head, but Adora was ready for her and swung the sword at Catra's legs. The Sword of Protection bit into Catra's left hamstring and caused her to collapse on the ground. Her scream rang through the air and she raised her hands in a futile attempt at blocking Adora's sword as it came down at her.

There was a sharp ringing in the air as the Sword of Protection bounced off Glimmer's staff. The simulation froze as everyone turned their attention to Adora.

"Adora, what are you doing?" Glimmer asked. "She's already crippled!"

"It's just a simulation," Adora shrugged. "We have to train like we intend to fight."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know your plan was to murder people!"

Adora slammed the Sword of Protection into the ground. "If it's a choice between Catra and Etheria, then I choose Etheria!" Adora gestured to the ruined lands around them. "Look around you! This is what the Horde is going to do to us! Perfuma, wouldn't you do the same?"

"Of course I'll fight for Etheria! But there are limits, Adora!" Perfuma gestured at Catra's leg. "What's she going to do if she can't move?"

"You can't just assume she's neutralized! Catra's capable of anything!"

"Ok Adora," Mermista said. "You need to calm down. End the simulation."

"What, so that's it? You're quitting because you don't want to get your hands dirty? People will die if we don't give it our all. People have already died because we didn't fight hard enough!" Adora turned to Glimmer. "Micah–"

Glimmer slapped Adora hard enough to send her to her knees. "Don't bring my father into this!"

"Glimmer, no… I'm sorry…" Adora watched as Glimmer linked hands with the others and disappeared in a burst of magic.

"Is everything alright, Adora?" Light Hope materialized next to her. "Why are your friends gone?"

"I don't know." Adora buried her face in her hands. "I… I don't know."

"Your pain is strong, Adora. I can help you, but only if you let me." Light Hope cleared the simulation and replaced it with a calming waterfall. "Please, Adora. you must let go if you wish to unlock your true potential."


	4. Chapter 4: The New Boss

Soldiers lined the walls of Hordak's throne room dressed in immaculate sets of armor. Horde banners had been strung up along the walls and hung down from the ceiling, while the floor now played host to a red carpet leading up to the throne where Hordak stood waiting. Everything was to be perfect for this moment, when Horde Prime would come to restore him to his rightful place among the stars.

Lonnie polished her helmet's visor the best she could as she readied herself for inspection. The cadets were at the front of the formation, right next to the Force Captains, and they would be at the center of the ceremony.

This made the empty spot between her and Rogelio all the more distressing.

"Where's Kyle?" Lonnie whispered to Rogelio. "Please tell me he was at least in the locker room behind us?"

Rogelio shook his head.

"I don't believe it. Hordak is going to sentence us to KP duty for the rest of our lives if Kyle doesn't show up in the next five minutes."

"I'm here! I'm here!" Kyle panted. "I got held up on cleaning duty, I swear."

Rogelio grabbed him, shoved a helmet on his head, and pulled him into the formation.

"Alright, that better be everyone." Lonnie scanned the hall again. "Wait, no. Scorpia's missing."

"Scorpia?" Kyle whispered. "I passed her on my way up. She was going into the prison."

"What? Why? Oh no, she better not be trying to break Catra out again," Lonnie groaned.

"I don't think she was. She seemed… off." Kyle paused. "She didn't even offer me a hug!"

"Great. Of all the times for her to go through a personal crisis, it had to be now." Lonnie sucked in a deep breath. "Well, there's nothing we can do now. Let's just hope we can stay clear of the fallout."

* * *

Little light penetrated the corner Catra had sought refuge in, and nothing had interrupted the silence of her cell for the better part of an hour. Catra had long since stopped crying and remained curled up in a tight ball, staring into the wall of her cell as if she could burn a hole into them with her gaze.

The floor trembled as someone heavy made their way to her cell. Unless she was very much mistaken and the guard had decided to bring her a massive cake, she was being paid a visit.

Catra squinted at the forcefield and saw Scorpia's silhouette standing outside her cell.

"Miss me?" Catra grinned weakly.

Scorpia stared at her impassively. "Prisoner 24601, you are hereby remanded into my custody for immediate transfer."

Catra's face fell. "Oh."

Scorpia pressed a button and the shackles detached from the wall and promptly linked themselves together. She strode into the cell and grabbed Catra's arm roughly as she dragged her out.

Catra silently followed Scorpia as they made their way out. If she failed to speak now, she would never get another chance. But she choked on the words each time she tried to say something. It wasn't so much that Catra was afraid, or that she had nothing to say, but rather, there was too much that she wanted to let Scorpia know before she met her fate.

And just like that, they were at the entrance to Hordak's throne room.

* * *

It was deathly quiet as everyone waited for Horde Prime's arrival. The Force Captains and cadets stood at attention stiff as statues in front of their troops. Hordak surveyed them impassively, but even he seemed restless as the minutes dragged on.

A tendril of pink hair tapped him on his shoulder.

"So do you think he's running late?" Entrapta asked.

"Horde Prime is never late," Hordak snapped. "He just prefers to… make an entrance."

It must have been true, for no sooner had he said it than a swirling energy vortex formed in the center of the room. The green light that it gave off was so bright that it forced the onlookers to shield their faces. When it died down, they could see Horde Prime standing in front of them flanked by two heavily armed androids.

"Little brother," he said, with a smile that never quite reached his eyes. "What a wonderful surprise you have delivered unto me."

Hordak bowed and stepped away from the throne. "Everything I have ever done has been to advance your will, Horde Prime."

"Your dedication, as always, is beyond reproach." Horde Prime strode up to the throne and took his place on it. "Tell me, was it difficult conquering this place?"

Hordak nodded. "I started with nothing but the wreckage of the ship that brought me here. From its ashes I forged an empire. Village after village fell before the technological supremacy of the Horde!" He gestured to the troops around them. "Now there is nothing that can truly challenge the might of the Horde on Etheria."

Horde Prime pressed his fingertips together. "What is this I hear about a 'She-Ra'?"

"That… that is but a temporary setback!" Hordak took a deep breath to compose himself. "The one known as She-Ra was a legend for a thousand years before some girl took up the mantle. Her arrival has been an unexpected complication, but we have adapted well. Did we not capture her sword and use it to broadcast these coordinates?"

"Indeed you did," Horde Prime nodded. "So where is She-Ra now?"

"The aftermath of the portal was unpredictable. I regret to inform you that she escaped in the confusion, but she is no threat to us now. The Horde's mighty fleet can wipe the Rebellion off the face of Etheria from orbit."

"I suppose it could," Horde Prime shrugged. "But why should I clean up your mess for you?"

Horde Prime bowed hastily. "You are right, of course. I shall take care of She-Ra myself."

"How?" Horde Prime fixed Hordak with a piercing stare. "From what I have read, it is not you that leads your armies, is it?"

"No, Horde Prime. I could scarcely afford to take command in the field when I had a portal to create."

Horde Prime raised an eyebrow. "Did you create the portal, then?" Hordak glanced over at Entrapta, who had decided to remain mercifully silent. "I had some… assistance in the final phase of the project, yes. But the groundwork was all mine. The natives of this planet could have never conceived of worlds beyond their own, let alone a portal with which to reach them."

"It almost makes one wonder why you did not simply help the natives with your vast technological expertise until they build you a means of contacting me." Horde Prime said. "It was always about war and conquest with you, wasn't it? You could never wrap your head around politics or embrace the bigger picture. You could never truly lead my armies, for you never understood how to win by truly outmaneuvering the enemy."

Horde Prime turned his attention from Hordak to Entrapta. "Come closer, Princess Entrapta. I have seen your work, and it is inspired, even among the universe-spanning Horde. You will do well in a proper laboratory."

"Well, that's quite an offer," Entrapta said. "I can't tell you how long I've dreamed about seeing the stars! Real stars, not just the pictures we have in storybooks!"

"Oh, you'll see the stars and more." Horde Prime smiled. "My ships can take you to the furthest wonders of the universe. Gravitation wells so deep that not even light can escape. Collapsed stellar cores that sweep the heavens with pulses of electromagnetic radiation. Vast clouds of gas that form the nursery for new stars. Pristine worlds ripe for development. All this and more can I give you."

Entrapta looked at Hordak, who was still trying to process what had just happened, then back to Horde Prime as he reclined regally on the throne.

"It's a deal!" She stuck out a strand of hair and shook his hand.

The sight was enough to snap Hordak out of his shock. "Do you mean to take my engineer away from me?"

"And why not? She will be of much greater use to the Horde in my employ. After all, you only needed her to help you build the portal, did you not?"

Hordak dropped into a stiff bow. "Of course, Horde Prime. You are correct. I shall attend to my troops."

"Oh, you need not bother with that." Horde Prime waved his hand dismissively. "Princess Entrapta's data made a clear case who should be leading my armies on Etheria."

Horde Prime directed his attention to the entrance. Hordak followed his gaze to see that Catra was standing there in shackles next to Scorpia. Both seemed equally shocked.

"Come, Catra."

Catra stumbled her way forward in a daze. Scorpia quickly steadied her and helped her walk up to the dais. Horde Prime personally removed Catra's shackles and placed a blood-red Horde badge on her uniform.

"For your valiant efforts in fighting the Rebellion and the instrumental role you played in signalling the fleet, I reward you with the position of Force Commander."

Catra's heart raced in her chest as she looked between the badge and Horde Prime. She sank to her knees before him and touched her head to the ground. "I… I…"

"Struck speechless, I see." Horde Prime leaned over and helped her to her feet. "You need not say anything to me, but a word to the troops might be well advised."

He turned her around to face the crowd. Catra felt her chest swell with pride as she looked upon the Horde soldiers. Her soldiers.

"This is it. This is the moment we've been waiting for. We've succeeded against all odds, and now we will crush the Rebellion and their Princesses so badly that no one will even remember they existed!" She thrust her hand up into the air and clenched it. "Victory to the Horde! Long live Horde Prime!"

"Victory to the Horde! Long live Horde Prime!" The soldiers repeated in unison.

Catra felt Horde Prime's hand on her shoulder. "Well done, Force Commander."

Hordak crossed his arms. "Horde Prime, I must protest. This… child is not fit to lead this army."

Entrapta quickly pulled out a data-pad. "Well, as we discussed, the data shows that the Horde does better when Catra's in charge!"

"Do you dispute the record, little brother?" Horde Prime said coldly. "Or are you questioning my judgement?"

"You have taken away my engineer and my troops. What will I do without either?"

Horde Prime laughed. "If you have no other abilities that are useful to me, then that is no one's fault but your own." He swept his arm and gestured around the throne room. "You claim that you have built all this for me, yet when I come to claim it as my own you balk. I see that it was all a ruse to claw your way back into grace. What for, little brother? Do you seek to usurp me?" Horde Prime's eyes narrowed. "If you are not a loyal servant, then you can only be a rival."

"No! Horde Prime, I–"

The robot bodyguards grabbed Hordak as he plead before Horde Prime and stunned him with a massive blast of electricity. Horde Prime calmly turned to the Horde and pointed at Hordak.

"Let this be a lesson to you all; none can challenge the supremacy of Horde Prime, Master of the Universe!"

He snapped his fingers and Hordak disappeared in a burst of green energy, to the amazement of all the onlookers.

Entrapta stared at the space that was left behind. "What happened to him?"

Horde Prime waved his hand dismissively. "Do not burden yourself with the fate of an inferior clone when you have the original in front of you. I invite you aboard my ship so that you may see what real science is like."

He held out his arm and, after a moment of consideration, Entrapta took it.


	5. Chapter 5: Parabellum

The simulation did its best to emulate a warm summer evening in the Whispering Woods. Adora sat with her eyes closed in a lotus stance under the waterfall. The cold water soothed her aching muscles; it felt like all the weight of the world was being carried away. More than that, it seemed to allow her a degree of alertness and focus that she had never before experienced. She felt attuned to everything in the simulation around her, from the gentle breezes to the last rays of the setting sun dancing across her face.

Light Hope stood in front of her, with the Sword of Protection in her hands. "You are properly attuned now. Excellent. Put the Horde out of mind. Do not think about your friends. You are not Adora, but She-Ra of Etheria. As you have seen yourself, there are threats far beyond the ken of mortal beings; it is for this reason She-Ra exists. Only by embracing your destiny can you truly save this world, and those beyond it."

"Has it always been this way?" Adora kept her eyes closed as she spoke.

"It has never been an easy task, but it was achievable for those who were raised according to our principles. All except Mara."

"Mara…" Adora thought back to the recording she had seen aboard the crashed ship in the Crimson Waste, and the brief glimpse she caught of Mara when reality was falling apart. "Mara seemed nice."

"She was. And in a way, that was her downfall. Benevolence and compassion are virtues, but the universe does not run on kindness. Enemies such as Horde Prime, Skeletor, or Mumm-Ra will be stopped by neither charity nor magnanimity, but by the sword."

Adora thought back to her fight with Catra, and how she had been willing to let the universe fall apart in order to win.

"I understand." Tears escaped her eyes and were washed away by the waterfall. "Sometimes, force is all there's left."

Light Hope nodded in what was her best imitation of an approving, supportive human gesture. "It is a sign of your maturity that you have realized this so young, Adora. I hope that, when the time comes, you remember it."

* * *

The Fright Zone returned to its normal drudgery after Horde Prime's visit. Force Commander Catra had yet to issue any new orders, except to summon the cadets, Force Captain Scorpia, and one prison guard to her personal office.

"So, uh, who's he?" Kyle whispered as they waited to be let into the office.

Rogelio and Lonnie shrugged, while Scorpia stood firmly at attention.

The guard took off his helmet to reveal that he was an older soldier in his early thirties. "I'm Sentry Tolliver. I work in security."

"Ok, well, I'm Kyle and this is Lonnie and Rogelio."

"Yeah, I've heard about you guys. Are we all in trouble or something? Because I've been thrown off of a walkway, kicked in the shins, and that's really enough excitement for one month."

"Hey, I didn't do squat," Lonnie snapped. "Neither did Rogelio."

The door opened with a hiss and Catra stepped out into the hallway. Her old uniform had been replaced by a dark grey armored vest and tastefully torn pants, with the red Force Commander badge placed squarely over her heart.

"Oh Lonnie," Catra tisked. "You've all done something."

Everyone promptly empulated Scorpia's stance as Catra walked up to them. She stopped in front of Kyle and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"What's the matter, Kyle? Cat got your tongue?"

Kyle closed his eyes and turned his head away. "I'm sorry! I was told to stay away from you, honest!"

"Aww, don't be sorry," Catra purred, stroking his cheek with her other hand. "I'm proud of you. You did something right for the first time. You acted like a Horde soldier. It's good that you didn't have a moment of weakness out of sentiment. That's what got me in trouble in the first place."

Catra released Kyle and glanced over at Tolliver. "That goes for you too, sentry. Excellent work, very efficient. I may have some new duties for you."

The compliments might have been intended to be comforting, but they just made everyone more tense.

Catra looked Scorpia up and down. "Scorpia."

Scorpia nodded stiffly. "Force Commander."

Catra cocked her head. "When did you get so formal?"

"Force Commander, Horde regulations dictate that all interactions with superior officers be governed by decorum and propriety." Scorpia responded. "Protocol procedures were covered in Force Captain orientation."

"Hm." Catra's tail swayed from side to side. "Good attention to detail, Force Captain. I trust that the dedication and loyalty you had to Hordak will be shown to me well?"

"Yes, Force Commander."

"Good." Catra smiled. "Now that you seem to all be up to standard, let's start planning the next phase of this war."

* * *

The interior of the _Helios_ seemed to stretch on forever as Horde Prime personally guided Entrapta through every inch of his ship. He knew the purpose of every piece of equipment on the ship and the scientific principles behind their operation, from the mightiest of laser cannons to the smallest semiconductor.

Imp rode on Emily as they followed the pair for hours, until Horde Prime finally concluded the tour and showed Entrapta to a luxury suite on the observation deck. Entrapta threw herself onto the bed and rolled around in excitement.

"Can you believe this?" she shouted. "There's more science on this one ship than anyone could ever dream of, and the universe still has mysteries beyond what even Horde Prime knows! This is a great opportunity for us to push the boundaries of science further than anyone has ever done and boldly go where no one has gone before!"

Emily made a sad beeping sound.

"Oh, are you worried that I'll leave you behind?" Entrapta sat up and gave Emily a reassuring hug. "I wouldn't ever forget you, Emily!"

Emily did not return the hug and looked over at Imp.

"What? Sure, Imp too." Entrapta grabbed him with her hair and pulled him into the hug. "We're going to have so much fun in my new lab!"

Imp shook his head and opened his mouth. ""No! Horde Prime, I–"

Entrapta frowned as she heard Hordak's voice. "You miss him?"

Imp nodded.

"Hm." Entrapta pulled out her data-pad and began typing furiously. "The data shows Hordak was a valuable lab partner! My efficiency coefficient tripled when we were working together. But I don't think Horde Prime would like it if we went looking for Hordak. And without Horde Prime's support, I won't get to see the rest of the universe!"

Emily promptly stepped on Entrapta's toes.

"Ow! Bad Emily! Bad!" Entrapta gave Emily a solid knock on the head. "I can't free Hordak! I wouldn't even know where to begin. It's not like I could…" she trailed off as she caught sight of a computer terminal in the corner of her room.

She promptly slapped herself on the forehead. "What am I saying? Of course I can find out where Hordak is! All I have to do is hack the ship!"

* * *

There was one part of the ship Horde Prime had never shown to Entrapta, and which she did not have the presence of mind to ask about: the brig. It was an unassuming low-tech holding area which relied less on technology to hold prisoners than the age-old assurance of solid metal and watchful sentries.

Hordak slumped against the wall of his cell as he replayed his confrontation with Horde Prime in his head. How could he have let the future he had built for himself slip away so easily? If he had kept silent, he would have been reinstated into a place of honor among Horde Prime's armies.

What drove him to speak up against Horde Prime? Catra being given control of the Horde's armies was an atrociously bad idea, but Hordak had never cared much for the running his armies in the first place. The logistics and management held no interest to him, especially not compared to the intellectual challenge of grand strategy.

No, his resentment had come earlier.

It had come when Horde Prime took his engineer away from him.

His anger at the loss of their partnership meant more to him than leading Horde Prime's armies again.

It was foolish

Supremely foolish.

And yet, he couldn't say with certainty that he would have felt differently if he had the opportunity to redo things. Of course, he would have kept it to himself and maneuvered around Horde Prime's machinations rather than lose his temper and confront him while at a disadvantage, but that was mere tactics; there was no getting around the fact that he wanted to maintain his partnership with Entrapta.

Hordak sighed. Whatever was going on in his defective mind was ultimately irrelevant since he would never see Entrapta again. The best he could hope for was that Horde Prime would exile him again.

A gentle tapping on the bars of his cell caught his attention, and he turned to see Imp waving at him.

"What are you doing?" he hissed. "The guards will destroy you if they catch you here!"

Imp quietly replayed a message. "Hi Hordak! So I had some time to think by myself, and as impressive as all this is, I'd like to have my lab partner back. So you just sit tight as we bust you out, ok? Seeya, lab partner!"

The color drained out of Hordak's face. "Imp, you must put an end to this foolishness!

Imp shook his head and promptly disappeared around the corner. Hordak buried his head in his hands and prayed to powers he did not believe in that Entrapta's plan would not result in them being brutally executed.

* * *

The war room in Bright Moon castle was tense as the Princess Alliance met for the first time since their disastrous training session. Even now, there was a certain reluctance to engage with Adora, and Adora showed little sign of initiating conversation beyond what was absolutely necessary.

"Good morning, everyone." Glimmer yawned. "You want to tell us what's going on, Bow?"

Bow stood in front of them fiddling with a projector. "Well, you know how I've been monitoring Horde communications? It's all heavily encrypted, but last night I managed to catch a signal that used an encryption method I read about in the Maker's Community journal! Here it is!"

The projector sprang to life and Entrapta promptly appeared on the wall waving at them enthusiastically.

"Hi everyone! So, uh, I've been thinking. Ever since I found out Adora was right about the portal destroying the world, I've realized that re-examining one's own premises is vital to the proper development and growth of science. I've looked at my life with the Horde and decided that I want to leave. If you want to help, then send me a response on this frequency and I'll open up a portal to Horde Prime's cruiser. If not, then I'm going to do this on my own and I guess we'll see how it goes." She took in a deep breath and did her best to smile. "Well, see you guys later… or not."

The room was dead silent afterwards.

"Ok, this is clearly a trap." Frosta said.

Mermista nodded. "It's practically in her name."

"Hey, Entrapta made a lot of bad decisions working for the Horde, but I think she means it!" Bow looked at the others. "She's not the type to lure us to our deaths!"

"Even if it wasn't, we'd be going into unknown territory," Perfuma added. "Anything could happen."

Glimmer looked over at Adora, who had yet to speak. "Adora? What do you think. This is your specialty."

Adora stood up and raised her sword high. "If we die in an ambush, so be it; we're doomed on the ground as is. But if she is telling the truth, then we can't afford to pass this up. I say we go to war, for the honor of Grayskull!"


	6. Chapter 6: Bolt out of the Blue

The tables and walls of Catra's office were covered with charts and maps as she planned for the Horde's final campaign against the Rebellion. Scorpia was in charge of overseeing deployment plans, while Lonnie gathered information on the terrain and Rogelio planned the logistics. Tolliver, meanwhile, attended a serving cart full of snacks and beverages, while Kyle was kneeling on the ground painting Catra's claws.

"With the recent loss of their Queen, the Rebellion will be in disarray," Catra said as she lounged on her office chair. "This is a perfect moment to strike hard at Bright Moon and burn their… Kyle, what are you doing?"

She snatched her hand away from him and examined her claws. "Urgh, a glossy black coat? Really, Kyle?" Catra rolled her eyes. "Take it off and do it matte."

Tolliver leaned over to take a look. "Actually, he wouldn't have to if you'd let him sand it a little with an emery board."

Catra glared at him. "Are you questioning my orders?"

"No, Force Commander," he said hastily. "I was just trying to be helpful."

"Then go make yourself useful and brew some tea," she snapped.

"Yes, Force Commander," he sighed.

Before he could do anything, klaxons wailed across the base.

"Oh, that's bad," Kyle said. "Uh, are we under attack again?"

Catra studied her data-pad closely. "No, not us; it's Horde Prime's cruiser, and I've got a good idea who's behind it. Everyone drop what you're doing and get ready, we've got Princesses on our hands!"

* * *

It was one thousand, two hundred, and fifty four miles from Bright Moon to the Helios. If Adora still had Swift Wind, it would have taken him two and a half days to travel the distance alone, and that was assuming he could make his way through the cold vacuum of space. Fortunately, there were ways around that problem; the portal that Entrapta opened linked Bright Moon and her laboratory aboard the cruiser together for a brief instant, enough to bring the Princess Alliance onboard.

She clapped her hands as she saw her old friends materialize before her and adopt battle stances. "Wow, it worked! It really worked!"

Bow blinked. "Hold on, you weren't sure?"

"Well, the math was sound and I did have experience with Hordak's interdimensional portal, but this is the first time I've built one entirely on my own! I'm glad to see that it didn't tear you into atoms!"

Adora brushed Bow aside. "Where's Horde Prime?"

"Well, I think he's in the command room in the center of the ship," Entrapta said. "You want to go straight for him?"

"I would yes," Adora nodded. "The rest of us should split up, sabotage the ship, and exfiltrate as swiftly as possible."

"Oh, that's great! That was my original plan; I was going to plant a virus on the ship's mainframe, have Emily bust out Hordak, and jack an escape pod!"

Perfuma's jaw dropped. "I'm sorry, what?"

"An escape pod is a one-use vessel that's intended to facilitate escape from a damaged or destroyed starsh–"

"No, the other thing," Frosta groaned. "About Hordak."

"Oh, I didn't mention that in my transmission?" Entrapta smacked her forehead. "I'm rescuing Hordak."

"First off," Glimmer said, "Hordak is terrible and deserves to be in jail for the rest of his life. Second, why is he in jail aboard a Horde vessel?"

Entrapta went to a nearby screen and switched to a presentation. "Well, it was pretty complicated, but my social interaction models suggest that Horde Prime decided to undercut Hordak's authority and throw him in jail because he saw Hordak as a rival. If you pay attention to the calculations, you'll notice how–"

"We believe you," Frosta cut her off hastily. "But we're not going to help you rescue Hordak!"

"That's alright." Entrapta put Imp on her shoulder and motioned for Emily to follow her. "Then we'll split up. Good luck storming the command center! If you'll each take a data-pad you can have your own map of the ship! I've already marked out routes for attacking and escaping. Just get into position and wait for me to trigger the virus. Then we do our thing, find an escape pod, and let the data-pad handle the rest!"

Adora walked up to Entrapta and took her hands in her own. "Thanks, Entrapta. I don't think we're on the same side, but I appreciate what you've done anyways."

Entrapta hugged her back. "Thanks, Adora. Maybe we'll see each other again after this is all over."

She waved goodbye to the others and disappeared into a maintenance hatch.

Adora grabbed a data-pad and scrolled through the maps. "Alright, then I guess this is it. It looks like Horde Prime's command center is relatively open, so there won't be much cover for him or his guards when the ship goes offline."

Bow nodded. "Given the interior design, it would make sense for Mermista, and Frosta to start forming ice walls as cover for the rest of us as we move in. Once we've got their attention on us, Glimmer can teleport you and me behind the front line to take on Horde Prime directly."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Frosta formed ice gauntlets around her fists. "Let's show him who's boss!"

* * *

Sirens blared as the lightings on the ship died. Normally they would have been revived by the emergency power, but a series of distant explosions that caused the ship to tremble made it clear that the backup generators would not be coming online any time soon. Guards shouted orders to each other in the dark; their confusion turning to terror as laser beams melted through the blast doors and anything foolish enough to stand in their way.

Hordak felt his heart sink. He knew that this was inevitable, but had hoped it would never happen just the same.

"Hey Hordak!" Entrapta ran over to his jail cell and began cutting the bars with a plasma torch. "Sorry I couldn't come sooner! Also, I don't have an exosuit for you, but I promise I'll make you a new one once we're planetside!"

"You shouldn't have come at all!" Hordak snapped. He took in a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. "Princess Entrapta, your loyalty is commendable, but I regret that I have nothing to offer you in return. Not only will you profit nothing from this venture, but you have betrayed the most powerful man in the universe and doomed yourself and whatever future you might have had in the Horde!"

Entrapta paused. "Oh wow. Then I guess there's no point in stopping now!"

Hordak groaned. "Why are you doing this?"

"I need a lab partner." She switched off the torch and kicked the bars down. "Come on, let's get out of here!"

* * *

The ship guards reacted to the attack with the speed and efficiency that came from hundreds of combat simulations. They sealed bulkheads, erected barricades, and fortified the corridors exactly as they had been trained. Unfortunately, none of the scenarios they had previously covered included a burst water mains, indoor snowstorms, angry foliage, or 8 foot tall warrior princesses, either alone or in concert.

Adora, Glimmer, and Bow formed up behind a bulkhead as the others breached the command center and teleported right in front of Horde Prime's station. They appeared five feet in the air and landed in front of a series of screens arrayed around a luxurious chair. From here, they could see a battle raging beneath them in the command center, but Horde Prime was nowhere to be found.

Green light filled the room from behind them, and they turned around to see Horde soldiers emerge from a portal.

"Hey Adora." Catra twirled a cackling electric staff as she and her team assumed positions around them. "Did you miss me?"

"I won't this time," Adora snapped. "Everyone, form up on me!"

"Horde, get in position!" Catra yelled.

Scorpia, Lonnie, and Rogelio promptly leveled their weapons at the rebels, while Kyle fumbled with his stun baton and Tolliver held up a pair of empty hands.

"What? But I'm a guard! I guard things!"

"Then guard Kyle!"

Catra darted forwards and swung at Adora with her staff. Adora blocked it with her sword and let the electricity run down its blade as she kicked Catra's knee, the joint giving way as Catra collapsed onto her back, allowing Adora to bring her sword down.

Rogelio promptly rammed into her from the side and sent her flying into the display screens, which cracked under the force of impact. He raised his stun staff just as Bow hit him with a trick arrow which released a burst of sticky resin that glued him in place.

Bow grabbed another arrow and fired at Lonnie, who parried it with her baton and returned fire. It flew past Bow's ear and singed his hair as he dropped to the floor and swept Lonnie's legs out from under her. He quickly immobilized her with a net and brought his next arrow to bear on Kyle.

Stars filled his vision as his head snapped back; Bow rolled with the blow to distance himself from the Horde soldier. Tolliver quickly stepped up and landed two more blows to Bow's chest before decking him with an uppercut that sent him reeling back into a computer station. He lifted his leg high to bring down on Bow when he suddenly found himself teleported into the air.

Glimmer dropped Tolliver onto Lonnie and teleported herself next to Adora, who was in the middle of exchanging blows with Catra. "Come on, Adora! We've got to go!"

"No!" Adora shoved Glimmer aside. "Take Scorpia and leave Catra to me!"

"Aww, I'm touched," Catra snickered. "Maybe I'll keep you around after all."

She feinted with a thrust to Adora's midsection and jumped up so that she could strike Adora's head. Adora raised her sword and cut into Catra's left hamstring with practiced precision. Catra collapsed onto the ground screaming in pain; her grip on the staff loosened and Adora kicked it away as she prepared to bring her sword down.

"Catra!"

Scorpia dived forward to block the blade, but Glimmer grabbed onto her from behind and teleported both of them away. There was nothing to block Adora as she stabbed Catra in the chest. There was a dull thud as the sword caught on Catra's armor; Adora tried to pull the sword back and found to her horror that it was stuck, held in place by red veins emanating from Catra's badge.

Catra was no less shocked by it, but had the presence of mind to knock the sword out of Adora's hands before she could go berserk. Adora promptly collapsed onto the floor as her weapon went flying off into the distance.

"Gotcha!" She cried as caught Adora. "Alright, let's mop these Princesses up!"

"No! Not like this," Glimmer shouted. "Bow, we've got to retreat!"

Bow promptly shot an arrow into the ground and filled the room with a cloud of choking smoke as they withdrew from the fight.

"Do we go after them, Force Commander?" Scorpia asked.

Catra's eyes narrowed. "No more games. We hunt them down and finish them."

The screens around them came to life and all showed the face of Horde Prime. "Well said and well done, Force Commander. My faith in you was not misplaced. Take your squad and link up with the ground forces in the hanger. I am granting you command of three troop ships and a frigate to hunt down the rebels."

"Understood, Horde Prime." Catra bowed at the screens. "Is there anything else that I should know? Are any of my other personal effects secret weapons?"

Horde Prime chuckled. "I'm afraid not Force Commander. I only intended for the badge to be a counter to She-Ra, and would have told you in due time had she not forced our hand with her brazen attack. But we can talk later; you have Princesses to eliminate."

Catra saluted. "Your will be done, Horde Prime."

She shoved Adora into a chair and tied her hands behind the back. "Alright, Tolliver and Kyle get to babysit Adora until Horde Prime comes for her. Everyone else take a moment to regroup and then we're heading out!"

* * *

The mood among the rebels was somber as they piled into the escape pod. Horde Prime had eluded them and Catra had defeated Adora; as much as they hated it, retreat was their only option. Bow sat in the pilot's chair and plugged Entrapta's datapad into the system. It automatically started up the engines and launched them into space.

Laser beams filled the void behind them, but Entrapta's program deftly evaded the weapons fire as it flew them down to the surface. If the situation had not been so dire, they might have found the peculiarities of space travel – weightlessness in zero-gravity environments, acceleration many times that of Etheria's gravity, the aerodynamic heating generated by atmospheric re-entry, and other experiences unknown to native Etherians – to be fascinating.

The retro-rockets flared as they came up upon a verdant pasture, and brought them to a safe landing close to Entrapta's escape pod. She waved to them happily, while Hordak, Imp, and Emily held back and watched from afar.

"What's wrong?" Entrapta asked. "Where's Adora?"

Glimmer dropped her head and sighed. "Catra infected her with a virus. We had to retreat."

"Oh." Entrapta looked down at the ground. "I suppose that's probably my fault too."

"In a way," Bow said. "But it's a little too late to be assigning blame."

Hordak pointed up into the air. "Particularly as we seem to have been caught."

They looked up to see the blocky silhouette of a Horde frigate looming over them in the sky. A swarm of small black dots detached from the ship and honed down on their location.

"Glimmer, teleport us out of here!" Bow shouted.

"I can't take all of us!" Glimmer looked at her friends. "Mermista, Frosta, make an ice dome! Perfuma, grow the plants so they can cushion us!"

Glimmer looked over at Hordak and Entrapta's group. "Everyone bunch up, now!"

They gathered together between the escape pods and huddled under the makeshift igloo as the missile barrage hit the meadow. The ice cracked from the pressure of dozens of explosions rolled over it, while the shockwaves squeezed the air out of everyone's lungs.

After an eternity, the bombardment stopped and allowed them to recover. Glimmer gasped for air as she pulled herself to her feet. "Why'd they stop?"

"They must be sending in ground troops to mop up," Hordak said. "Standard procedure. Kills must be confirmed."

Glimmer knocked a hole in the ice so that they could see the sky. Three were sleek and angular dropships were descending on their location. They circled the landing site like vultures and raked it with laser fire, forcing everyone to stay behind the rapidly shrinking ice. The ships kept up the suppressive fire as they landed on the ground and disgorged dozens of soldiers, who promptly took control of all escape routes.

Catra limped out into the pasture with her squad behind her. She smirked at the sight of her enemies cowering before her and gestured to the ships to stop firing.

"Alright, we can do this two ways," she shouted. "Either you surrender now and let me finish this quickly, or I wipe this pasture off the face of the planet with some heavy ordnance. Your call."

Entrapta poked her head out and waved at Catra. "Hey Catra! I know we're not friends anymore, but maybe you could not kill us at all? Is that an option? Just checking!"

Hordak immediately pulled her back before Catra could respond. "That is not going to work! We are cornered and doomed. I am sorry it had to end this way, Entrapta."

"You're sorry?" Glimmer sputtered. "How do you think the rest of us feel, you giant jerk?"

"I'm not hearing a surrender," Catra said in a sing-song voice. "Soldiers, open fire!"

"Wait! Wait!" Bow put up his hands and ran out into the open. "Catra, before you shoot, I have to say something."

Catra crossed her arms and glared at him. "What could you possibly say to me that would make any difference?"

He immediately pointed up in the air. "What in the world could that be?"

"Seriously?" Catra groaned. "Soldiers, open fire on everyone but Bow. I'm going to take care of him myself."

Scorpia tapped Catra on the shoulder. "Um, Force Commander? He's right…"

Catra followed Bow's gaze and saw a bright blue sphere racing down from the heavens directly towards the frigate. The ship brought its broadside to bear against the object, but it weaved its way through a barrage of laser fire and accelerated directly through the shields and the vessel itself. The frigate was torn apart in a massive burst of electricity and its fragments rained down on Etheria. Almost immediately afterwards, the Horde's vehicles and weapons on the ground sparked furiously as they shorted out

The blue streak came out the other side of the explosion and dived down. A fiery mach cone formed around it as it entered the atmosphere as it made a beeline for the pasture.

"Everyone get hit the deck," Scorpia shouted as she threw herself onto Catra.

The object struck the ground between Catra and the rebels like an angel cast out of heaven. A blinding explosion pelted them with hardened shards of earth, and was followed by a deafening sonic boom that knocked everyone down onto the ground.

The metal of the ships and escape pods vibrated until the air was filled with a high pitched whining as a mass of electricity the size and shape of a horse with outstretched wings hovered over the battlefield. Wind roared all around them, bringing with it the sharp smell of ozone as a booming voice reverberated through the air.

"I am the bright star of the morning! I am two-thirds god, and with divine fire shall I smite those who do not bow before me!"

Catra pushed a dazed Scorpia off of her and grabbed her staff. "Cadets, get in formation!"

"Uh, Force Commander?" Lonnie raised his head from the ground. "That thing just took out a frigate!"

"You'll have bigger problems to worry about if you don't get up and fight!" She propped herself up on her good leg with her staff, and then promptly collapsed.

Scorpia slowly withdrew her stinger from Catra's behind. "Sorry, Wildcat. This is for your own good."

She held up her claws and slowly advanced on the living lightning. "Alright, I'm surrendering. We're surrendering. We're all surrendering. No one needs to be smote or smited or smitten or anything today."

"Coward," Catra growled as she clawed her way forward.

Scorpia raised her stinger again, but a lightning bolt singed the ground in front of her.

"Stay thy hand! I wish to see what the Thunderan has planned."

It waited until Catra had crawled up to him before lifting a hoof and bringing it down hard on her wrist. Catra screamed as the bones snapped and the electricity set her nerves on fire. Scorpia promptly rammed into the pegasus and sent it flying back into an escape pod.

"What was that for?" Scorpia crouched over Catra protectively. "It's over! She wasn't a threat!"

Electricity crackled as the pegasus flapped its wings and generated a massive blast of electricity directed straight at them. Scorpia reflexively shielded her face with her claws as the lightning bolt struck. It carved a crater into the ground and singed the grass a dozen feet away, but there were no bodies left behind.

Scorpia opened her eyes to see that they were among the Princesses, right behind Glimmer.

"Hey you!" Glimmer pointed her staff at the pegasus. "She's right, it's over! I don't know what you're doing here, but you sure aren't helping at this point!"

The pegasus flared its eyes again and seemed as if it was on the verge of launching another attack when a massive pillar of green fire came down from the heavens and scored a direct hit on the creature.

The pasture was on fire now, but the pegasus was still alive in the center of the conflagration. It raised itself off of the ground and tried to ascend into the air again when it was struck by a dark object that knocked it into the ground. The force of the impact resulted in a sizeable crater in the ground and a shockwave that promptly extinguished the flames.

A sturdy horse with a roan coat that sparkled like rubies clad in heavy metal armor was standing on the pegasus, with a hoof pressing down on its neck. "Snap out of it! You need to stand down!"

The pegasus threw him off with a massive lightning bolt and took to the air again so that it could surveyed the battlefield haughty. "If you did not wish for my help, you should not have beseeched me for aid."

The electricity dissipate to reveal a dark blue pegasus dressed in matching armor, who then landed on the ground with unsteady legs.

"I really hate that guy," he grumbled.

"This is FASCINATING!" Entrapta clapped in excitement. "The horses are talking!"

Bow squinted at them. "Judging by their size, they're more like ponies."

The remark drew a scoff from Hordak. "A pony is a small horse, so that's really just distinction without a difference."

Catra dragged herself into a sitting position and glared at the others. "This is all very interesting, but I'd like to point out that MY WRIST IS NOW A JIGSAW PUZZLE!"

There was another burst of green magic next to them, and a pink winged unicorn appeared in the middle of the flames. She looked between Morning Star and Catra with exasperation.

"Not again," she groaned. "Ok everyone, don't panic! I can fix this!

Scorpia promptly blocked it. "Now you just hold on there, I'm not letting you near her without you telling me what's going on here!"

"Look, I understand this must be a really difficult time for everyone, but we need to get out of here before the Horde sends reinforcements or decides to bombard our location from orbit. Everyone get around me and prepare for immediate teleportation."

Glimmer looked around at her allies and enemies. "What, all of us?"

"Anyone who wants to come is free to, but we have to go now! The Horde won't take long to respond to us downing a frigate!"

Scorpia cradled Catra in her arms and stepped up to the unicorn. "I'm in."

"Put me down," Catra growled, as she feebly pushed against Scorpia.

The unicorn looked around. "Who else?"

When she received no response from the rest of the Horde she simply shrugged and summoned a circle of green fire that engulfed the landing site. When it cleared away, all members of the rebellion had vanished.


	7. Chapter 7: Deus Ex Equus

Teleporting with Glimmer was comfortable and safe. She, along with her passengers, were instantly transmitted from one place to another. The unicorn's teleportation was nothing like that: the magic was burning hot, and they pulled the targets through an endless tunnel of fire for what seemed like an eternity before the flames died down to reveal their new location.

Everyone picked themselves up off the ground and looked around in confusion. They had appeared at the foot of an unknown mountain range. It was night there, and the sky above held no sign of Horde ships. The unicorn that had brought them here was still in the center of the group, except her beautiful pink coat and feathers had been replaced by dark green chitin and gossamer wings.

"We made it!" She pranced about unaware of her transformation. "I got us to the other side of the planet! And we're only a few miles off target to boot!"

The roan horse coughed pointedly and tapped her on the flank.

"Whoops!" She promptly wreathed herself in an emerald flame that ate away at her body until it was replaced by her previous coat. "I guess that took a lot more out of me than I thought!"

Entrapa poked her in the side. "Fascinating! Do that again!"

Hordak put a hand on her shoulder and dragged her back. "I think that discretion may be the better course of action at the moment."

"Pfft, don't worry about it. I don't bite." She ran her tongue over her teeth. "Especially not in this form, there's no fangs."

Glimmer leveled her staff at the unicorn. "Ok, I'm glad you rescued us, but I still don't know what any of you are. I'd like some answers."

"You'd like some answers?" Catra spat. "I'd like my wrist in one piece!"

"Right, that!" The unicorn quickly trotted over to Scorpia and Catra. "Let's see: electric burns, severed hamstring, and a shattered wrist." She closed her eyes and touched her horn to Catra's wrist. "I can do this, but it'll take a while. Foxtrot, explain things while I conduct surgery!"

The roan horse bowed to her and turned to the rest of the group. "Alright, gather 'round me and pay attention. I'm Captain Foxtrot, the pegasus is Commander Morning Star, and the, uh, 'bug horse' is special agent Tabula Rasa. We rescued a friend of yours called Swift Wind while your dimension was collapsin' in on itself."

Bow gasped "Swift Wind? So that's where he's been! We've been looking all over for him since reality reset. Is he alright?"

"He's actually hiding in a cave up in the mountains with some other humans we rescued. We can go meet up with them when you're ready."

Perfuma raised her hand. "Are you sure this place is safe?"

"Yeah, unless the Horde can track teleportation." Foxtrot glanced over at Hordak, who shook his head.

"Not if it's magical in nature, otherwise I would have noticed your attempt at sabotaging my portal."

"Good to know," Glimmer said as she sat herself on a nearby rock. "In that case, I need a breather. This day has been a disaster."

"On the contrary, this day has been a great victory for SCIENCE!" Entrapta shouted. "We learned that the Horde can't sense magical teleportation, that their computer systems are vulnerable to viruses, and that magical talking horses exist!"

"You know, technically we're ponies," Morning Star said.

Bow threw his hands up in the air. "Aha! Vindication!"

Glimmer reached over with her staff and smacked him on the head. "Bow, there is a time and a place, and this isn't it!"

"Sorry, sorry." Bow rubbed his head "So what do we do now? Is this a truce?"

"I am willing to consider our hostilities at an end," Hordak said. "I have no place in the Horde anymore."

Entrapta gave Bow a thumb's up. "I'm good!"

"Alright," Bow nodded. "That just leaves Catra."

He looked over to see that Scorpia was still holding onto Catra and anxiously watching Tabula Rasa conduct the surgery. They could see a green aura surround Catra and piece her bones back together. Tabula Rasa opened her eyes when the last shard had settled into place and smiled.

"All done! I knit the bones in your wrist back together, your hamstring has been reconnected, your burns have been healed, I straightened out some minor scoliosis from your 4th to 8th vertebrae, and filled two developing cavities in your mouth."

Catra's hands shot up to her mouth in horror. "I don't remember giving you permission to start messing around with my body!"

Tabula Rasa rolled her eyes. "So do you want me to put them back?"

"Urgh, whatever! I'm done with you freaks!" Catra pushed her way out of Scorpia's arms and promptly collapsed on the ground.

"If you had been paying attention, you might have noticed that I did not say that I removed the venom from your bloodstream." Tabula Rasa turned Catra over with her hoof. "Scorpion lady, how long does it take to wear off?"

"It's Scorpia, and it might take an hour or two." Scorpia sat down on the ground next to Catra. "So it looks like we've got some time to kill."

Tabula Rasa eyed her suspiciously. "You seem to be taking this really well. You're not trying to pull one over on me, are you?"

"What? No. I just wanted to make sure my, uh…" Scorpia looked over at Catra, who glared back. "Commanding officer got the medical treatment she needed. And you people seem really nice, so, um, yeah?"

Scorpia found herself lifted up in the air by a telekinetic field and saw her Force Captain badge ripped off of her uniform. "Or maybe it's because your badge has a distress beacon in it!"

Tabula Rasa snatched Catra's badge away as well and turned them both to dust.

"Ok, I totally forgot about that. And I wasn't planning on actually using it anyways." Scorpia looked down at Tabula Rasa and smiled nervously. "My bad?"

Tabula Rasa gave her a hard stare until Glimmer put a hand on her mane. "For what it's worth, I believe Scorpia."

The telekinetic field dissipated harmlessly and Scorpia dropped to the ground. "Thanks, Glimmer. I owe you one."

"You can make it up to me by keeping Catra from doing something stupid."

"Ah. Hm, yes, that is a pretty big problem." Scorpia leaned closer to Glimmer. "Look, um, this isn't a good time to ask me to do it, so can you please find someone else?"

"What?" Glimmer looked from one to the other. "I thought you two were friends."

Scorpia winced. "Yeah, me too."

Glimmer reached out and gave her a pat on the arm. "Do you want to come sit with us?"

"Yeah, sure," Scorpia sighed.

They joined the small circle with the other princesses, Bow and Hordak. Most of them were too exhausted to say anything, but Entrapta was as cheerful as ever.

"Are we going to set up another social experiment?" She asked. "I haven't seen this many Princesses together since the Prom!"

"Wow, all of you ladies are princesses?" Tabula Rasa cocked her head. "Weird! Feudalism was on its way out when I was born, and that was a long time ago."

"Fascinating! What is your current social structure and how did it evolve?"

"From a monarchy to a democratic constitutional republic over one and a half millennia."

Entrapta held up a scanning device took readings off of Tabula Rasa. "Hm, that glimpse we caught of your true form earlier seemed heavily optimized for combat. I hypothesize that your species was much more predatory in the past?"

"When we still had a queen she decided that changelings should aggressively prey on others. After she was overthrown, the changelings adopted new forms and social structures better suited to peaceful co-existence." Tabula Rasa shapeshifted into a beautiful blue beetle-like equine creature. "But as you noted, I'm supposed to be more of a fighter, so they cloned me from her genetic template and threw in some improvements."

"So what brought you out here?"

"Oh, we keep an eye on our little corner of the galaxy. Especially when reality threatens to unwind."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore," Hordak said. "No one will be opening a portal from inside Despondos."

Bow frowned. "What about Horde Prime?"

"If he's smart, he'll do what we did and have a confederate on the outside who will open portals on a regular schedule." Tabula Rasa said.

Glimmer looked up. "Doesn't that mean he's cut off until another portal opens?"

Hordak considered the question for a moment. "Well, I suppose that depends on how Horde Prime has arranged things. The energy requirements of a portal grow exponentially with size, which is likely why he only has a few ships with him. Small portals, on the other hand, are easy to open, and would allow him to remain in regular contact with the rest of the Horde. If so, then he would be able to request reinforcements as needed."

Perfuma gestured to Morning Star. "You don't think he'll try to get backup after one of his frigates got sunk by a bolt from the blue?"

"Possibly," Hordak nodded. "But if we're lucky, he's still trying to figure out what happened. The Horde is spread out over many galaxies and has enough ships to crush any single foe, but they are distributed over the incomprehensible vastness of space. As a result, their protocol is to only escalate if it is truly necessary, otherwise it would be spread out too thin."

Entrapta tapped her chin. "The language you're using implies that there are multiple factions still fighting the Horde in its territory."

"It is, in a sense, analogous to our struggles against each other on this planet," Hordak said. "In every galaxy, there are space-faring civilizations, but they are always few in number. Life is a precious rare occurrence, and intelligent life is even rarer. On average, these civilizations are too far from each other to even make contact. The energy and time required to colonize even nearby star systems can only be done over the course of many lifetimes."

Bow's eyes widened. "But the Horde has portals which can bypass all that, right?"

"Smart boy." Hordak looked like he genuinely meant it as a compliment. "Yes, the portals are what allowed Hordak to swiftly transverse entire galaxies to conquer their individual civilizations one by one."

Glimmer buried her head in her hands. "Then how do we fight them?"

"When it comes to the insurgents the Horde normally faces, they hide among the stars. The size and resources of a galaxy defy understanding. It takes a beam of light one twentieth of a second to travel the diameter of this planet, but even at this speed it would take that same light beam over a hundred thousand years to span the galaxy Etheria came from. The galaxy has, perhaps, five hundred billion stars and an unknowable amount of matter. A dedicated group of insurgents with stolen Horde technology can set up base anywhere and build up their forces in secret, waiting for the chance to sabotage the Horde's infrastructure or ambush a fleet."

"Too bad we can't do that here; any base large enough to matter would get found out in short order," Glimmer grumbled. "And if we go back to Bright Moon, the Horde might just wipe it off the map."

"Likely true. Victory will only come from leveraging whatever resources that are immediately available, but I do not know what you have access to."

Glimmer looked over at the horses. "Well, we have a bunch of magical ponies, so there's that. Maybe we'll have a better idea of our options once we link up with Swift Wind, get a good night's rest, and put all our heads together."

* * *

Morning Star prodded Catra with his hoof as the others prepared to move out.

"Hey. You feelin' better?"

"Leave me alone," Catra snarled weakly. She stumbled to her feet and attempted to run away, only to fall over after a few steps.

"I'm takin' that as a no." Morning Star got down next to her and extended his wings. "Come on, I'll carry you."

"And why would I agree to that?"

"Would you prefer I get the scorpion lady? She didn't seem too enthusiastic to be around you, but maybe she's changed her mind. But likely as not, they're goin' to tie you up and get someone else to drag you around."

Catra muttered something impolite under her breath. "Fine."

She crawled onto Morning Star's back and wrapped her arms around his neck. He let her hands rested around his throat; Catra took advantage of the opportunity to rake her claws along his jugular.

Morning Star whinnied loudly and nearly shook her off onto the rocky ground below. "Don't do that, I'm ticklish!"

"Figures," Catra grumbled as she settled in for the ride.

Morning Star could sense Catra growing steadily more tense on his back as they followed the others, which made her much harder to balance.

"Hey, I understand if you're still mad about my, uh, previous behavior. But do let me know if I can do anything to make you more comfortable, alright?"

"I don't hold it against you," Catra said. "It was war, and I got fixed at any rate."

"Alright, but I can tell you're pretty worked up over somethin'."

"Yeah, I am." Her grip around his neck tightened instinctively. "Just another in a long line of failures: I achieve my dreams, then it gets taken from me; I get a promotion, then my friends get me thrown in jail; I have my enemies at my mercy, then magical horses come out of nowhere and destroy my entire army."

Morning Star nodded. "I can see how that would be frustratin'."

"What, really?"

"One soldier to another," he shrugged. "War's war, right?"

"I suppose." Catra relaxed slightly. "You ever lose everything?"

"A few times. Overall, I'd say I've lost more times than I've won."

"How? You destroyed a frigate without breaking a sweat."

Morning Star laughed long and hard. "If all my problems could be solved by blowing things up, I'd be a much happier pony. I can't save the dyin', heal the sick, or feed the hungry. I can't solve a murder case or govern a nation. And I can't fight my fate to die in the Twilight of the Gods."

"So how do you live with it?"

"I learned to pick my battles and take my victories where I can." He looked back at her. "What about you?"

"I want it all," Catra said bitterly. "The Horde, Etheria… maybe even the universe too."

"Now why would you want a crown on your head the size of the universe?"

"Because as long as there's someone more powerful than me, they're going to–" Catra cut herself off sharply. "Because I don't want anyone to rule over me."

"I get what you mean. So you want to rule over others instead?"

Catra scowled. "If it's them or me I'd rather it be them. That's how the world works: the strong have power, and the weak bow to them."

"Oh, absolutely," Morning Star nodded. "But does it have to be?"

"I don't understand the question."

"Well, the law of the jungle doesn't necessarily apply to complex societies, does it? We have a choice in how we live, and we could choose to live in a world where people agreed not to lord power over each other."

"Listen," Catra groaned, "I don't know know what things are like in your nicely sequestered little world – maybe you're all one big, happy herd there – but that's not how the rest of us are. And it's certainly not what the Horde is like, and they set the rules for the rest of the universe."

"What would you do if I gave you a chance to reach a safe haven?"

Catra rolled her eyes. "I don't think I'd do well on a planet of talking horses."

"Don't dodge the question; it doesn't have to be the Federation. It could be Third Earth, Eternia, or any number of out of the way places the Horde has no presence. What would you do?"

"Well, I'll tell you what I won't do; I won't run away like a coward."

"So you want somethin' more than just safety, is that it?"

"If I wanted to be safe, I'd become a hermit in the woods," Catra spat. "But then I'd just be a cowardly nobody."

"Of course. Courage is seldom a path to a long and happy life. But plenty of people find it worthwhile because they have somethin' that drives 'em. So what makes you tick?"

"What makes me tick? I'll tell you what makes me tick," she snarled. "I've been kicked around and cast aside for my entire life. I'm going to make it big one day, and then everyone's going to be sorry about how they treated me, because I'll be calling the shots and I won't need anything from them."

"Hm."

"What, you don't approve?"

"Does it matter? I thought you didn't need anything from anyone."

He could feel Catra seething anger on his back, but kept quiet as hey made their way up the mountain. There was a warm fire outside the mouth of a small cave, tended to by Swift Wind and an angelic looking woman who dropped an armful of firewood as she saw the group approach.

Glimmer's jaw dropped. "Mom?"

Queen Angella flew down to meet them and caught Glimmer in a tight hug.

"Glimmer! I didn't think I'd see you until I returned to Bright Moon! What are you doing here?"

"We tried to attack Horde Prime's ship and failed. Then Tabula Rasa teleported us here." Glimmer pressed her face against her mother's chest. "I thought you were gone. Adora said you were gone."

"No, not gone," Angella chuckled. "I was just trapped in an interdimensional void before Swift Wind found me." Angella looked around at the group. "It certainly seems that I've missed out on quite a few things."

"Yeah," Glimmer nodded. "It's been a crazy week."

Angella scrutinized the crowd closely. "Where's Adora?"

"Oh mom… Horde Prime got her," Glimmer said. "He had a virus too, and she got infected again."

Angella lifted Glimmer's head by her chin so she could wipe away her tears. "Then we'll just have to get her back, won't we?"


	8. Chapter 8: A New Dawn

The fire cackled merrily in the darkness, casting long shadows throughout the cave. There was little food on the mountains, but Morning Star and Foxtrot set to scavenging what they could and left the others to rest at the campsite. Although everyone was happy to be safe for the moment, there was still a considerable amount of awkwardness in the air between the Rebellion, former Horde members, and Catra.

Swift Wind sat next to them awkwardly and cleared his throat. "Well, uh, I certainly didn't expect to see you guys when I got back to Etheria. How's life?"

Scorpia glanced over at Catra and sighed. "Complicated."

"Ooh yeah. Yeah, I know how that feels." Swift Wind paused. "Well, no. I don't, but I hope things work out for you."

Scorpia reached out to him cautiously. "Can I hug you?"

"By all means!" Swift Wind promptly made a face as she wrapped her claws around him. "Wow, you're pointy!"

"Um, yeah. Sorry." Scorpia shifted around so that her back was resting against him. "Better?"

"That is so much better." Swift Wind covered her with his wing. "Feel free to stay as long as you like!"

"Thanks." Scorpia settled into Swift Wind's side. "You're nice. And Adora's not so bad either."

"Oh, you've seen her?"

"Yeah, while the world was falling apart. We tried to find her sword and shut it down. I got vanished before we could really get anywhere, though."

"Well at least you were there to help her," Swift Wind grumbled. "I spent my time as a regular horse before I got plucked out of reality altogether."

"Well hey, you found Queen Angella at least! That's something!"

"That's true. Mara too."

Bow and Glimmer rushed over to his side. "You found Mara?"

"Yeah, I sensed that she was in the same void as Queen Angella," Swift Wind said. "She's in the back of the cave, but a thousand years drifting between worlds didn't do her any favors. She's been in a coma ever since we found her."

"Well, at least she's back on Etheria," Bow said. "Maybe we could have Light Hope take a look at her?"

Glimmer frowned. "I suppose, although I don't trust that computer program…"

Catra's shadow fell on all of them as she walked in on the conversation. "Are you talking about that creepy hologram in the First Ones ruins?"

Scorpia turned away from her, while Bow and Glimmer exchanged glances.

"What do you want, Catra?" Glimmer growled. "Haven't you caused enough problems already?"

"Me?" Catra spat. "You've been a constant pain in my rear! You keep ruining my missions, you cost me control of She-Ra, and you stole my friend from me!"

Glimmer charged up her fists. "We didn't do any of that!"

Catra's claws popped out as she stepped towards Glimmer. "You self-righteous royal brat, I ought to–"

She abruptly collapsed onto the ground as Scorpia stung her again.

"Sorry about that," Scorpia sighed.

Bow gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Thanks for the intervention, but you don't have to keep doing this if you don't want to."

"It's ok, it… it was for her own good." Scorpia rolled Catra over and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Can you help me move her somewhere to rest?"

* * *

Queen Angella shook her head sadly as Scorpia and Bow carried Catra off into a corner. "Well, at least everyone else is getting along."

"For now," Hordak said. "Though my expectations for the future are not high."

"Then why are you here?" Angella crossed her arms. "Did you want to see how the other side lives?"

"I am here on this wretched planet once again because Entrapta staged a deeply misguided rescue attempt after Horde Prime undercut my position and threw me in jail." Hordak clenched his fists. "In the space of one hour, she ruined her chance of achieving greatness under the ruler of the known universe while scarcely improving mine."

"I suppose that is true," Angella said. "The Rebellion is not particularly inclined to show mercy at this point."

"I had no hopes to the contrary." Hordak stared into the fire, then quietly asked. "What about Entrapta?"

Angella raised an eyebrow. "What about her?"

"What will her fate be?"

"I don't know how things work in the Fright Zone, but in Bright Moon that sort of question is resolved in a trial. I do not dispense judgement according to my personal whims."

"How very noble of you." Hordak seemed to struggle with his next sentence. "I… I hope that you will take into consideration her considerable scientific expertise. It would be a travesty if she was not able to use her skills under the proper guidance."

"Are you saying that she should make amends for the damage that she inflicted on Etheria?"

"I suppose so, yes."

Angella looked Hordak in the eyes. "And what about yourself?"

Hordak laughed bitterly. "Entrapta advanced Etherian science by a thousand years with the scraps in my laboratory. I could barely cobble together working war machines."

"Be that as it may, you do have more insight into the Horde than any of us."

"Yes, I suppose I do," Hordak mused. "You want me to help you drive Horde Prime out of Despondos? What makes you think it would make a difference? His ships could fill the very skies. We could cast him out and he would simply come back with an even larger fleet."

"I take it that our Resistance is doomed? That Horde Prime's victory is inevitable, and that we shall all be executed when it happens?" Angella looked over at Entrapta, who was enthusiastically explaining Emily's inner workings to Bow. "I suppose that makes worrying about our fates rather futile, doesn't it?"

Hordak frowned. "I suppose it would."

* * *

Tabula Rasa sat next to the fire enjoying the peace and quiet of a warm summer evening. Hostilities had died down from everyone except Catra, whose resentment was still palpable. Nevertheless, there was an invigorating flow of positive emotions around the group.

She looked around and saw the other Princesses looking at her apprehensively.

"What's up?"

"I'm just going to put it out there," Mermista said. "This day has been weird."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Good weird or bad weird?"

"Just wierd."

"Yeah, I can see that." Tabula Rasa stretched out by the fire. "I've been doing this for so long that I lost my sense of what normal was a while ago."

"When was that?"

She shrugged. "Oh, about three centuries ago, give or take a decade."

"So what, are you immortal?"

"Perhaps? We're not exactly sure." she shrugged. "The other changelings aren't, but I'm a clone of the last queen and might very well be."

"Is it hard?" Glimmer asked quietly. "Knowing that you'll outlive your friends?"

"I like to look at it another way," Tabula Rasa said. "I get to keep the memory of my friends alive for new generations. They've all taught me lessons, and I pass them on in turn to help make the future a better place."

"Yes, that is something." Glimmer thought about her mother again, and how she had guided Bright Moon for centuries. "It's a lot of responsibility."

"And it's bothering you?"

"I'm just… so young," Glimmer brought her knees up to her chest.

Tabula Rasa winked and smacked her with her tail. "Don't worry, you'll grow out of it."

"If Horde Prime doesn't wipe us out first," she groaned. "We need some way to get back at him."

Entrapta abruptly popped up next to them. "That's right! And I have just the plan to do it!"

Both of them startled and clutched each other as Entrapta held up a data-pad. "You see, the last two times the murder virus stopped when the data crystal was destroyed. I saw Tabula Rasa disintegrate the data crystal, but Horde Prime likely has more of them since he worked one into a Force Commander badge. So then I thought why not grab a data crystal of my own and program a counter-virus?"

Glimmer looked at the plans. "You have a counter-virus?"

"Well, no, not as such," Entrapta said bashfully. "But I did think about it! After the second time it happened, I thought about how odd it was that the Sword of Protection didn't have any sort of firewall or countermeasures. I mean, it's a pretty big security flaw."

Hordak gently pulled Entrapta away to a socially appropriate distance. "That is, of course, assuming that it is a security flaw."

"What else could it be?"

"A virus that drives technology berserk may be written off as a work of malice," Hordak said, "But the Sword of Protection should have safeguards. That it implies that the virus may have been an actual defense or combat program."

"Ah. Hm…" Entrapta tapped at her data-pad furiously. "That is a fascinating possibility which would reveal so much about the First One's culture!"

"It would make them incredibly evil!" Glimmer looked at her mother. "Mom?"

"Irresponsible, at the very least." Angella frowned. "The First Ones were closer to my time than anyone else's, and they were as flawed as any of us. But it's been long enough that most people have forgotten the bad parts and exalted them out of a yearning for a better time."

"Regardless of what their intent was, we would need some of their technology to work with," Hordak said. "Unfortunately, all of mine is in the Fright Zone. Does Bright Moon have any?"

Angella shook her head. "No, but there are the First Ones ruins in the Whispering Woods – assuming we can make it there without being detected."

"It's a start," Hordak mused. "Of course, we'd also need a way to teleport past his shields. Standard protocol is to rotate shield frequencies on a regular basis."

Entrapta bounced on the balls of her feet excitedly. "Ooh! That! I pulled the algorithm before we left! We can predict his schedule!"

"Well, isn't that handy," Tabula Rasa chuckled. "Let's sleep on it and see if we can't come up with a plan tomorrow."

* * *

The sun shone directly into the cave the next morning after it had cleared the surrounding peaks. Glimmer groaned as she was forced awake and would have gone back to sleep if her bladder had permitted it. She quietly snuck off to take care of matters, and returned to see Foxtrot and Morning Star sunning themselves out by the entrance.

"Out stretchin' your wings early this mornin'?" Morning Star chuckled.

Glimmer flapped her tiny wings. "I will when I get them."

"So you're an, uh..." Morning Star searched for the right term and came up with a blank.

"Half. My dad was a human sorcerer who managed to woo my immortal angelic mom. She always talked about how his smile was more enchanting than any of the spells he could cast."

"Hey, that's pretty cool. Reminds me of how my parents met." Morning Star looked up at the clouds above them in contemplation. "She told me he came down to her as she was flying through the night sky. He said that he was drawn away from his path in the heavens like a moth from the moon, for even in the darkness her rainbow mane was more beautiful than the bridge between the realms. That she was the bravest and most heroic of all the scions of Pegasus, the greatest hero of the Fourth Age, and other stuff like that. Then she told him she was pregnant, and he took off as fast as he eight legs would carry him, the slippery deadbeat."

Glimmer raised an eyebrow. "So that's where you being two-thirds god comes from?"

"That's more poetic license than anythin' else. Although I suppose one could make the metaphysical argument that mixin' divine bloodlines results in… well, that's complicated." He gave a short laugh. "Sorry to digress. More trouble than it's worth, really.."

"I agree." Glimmer buried her face in her hands. "After my mom disappeared and I became ruler of Bright Moon, I realized that I might rule for a thousand years – and long after all of my friends passed away. And that's a lot of responsibility."

"Yeah, but your mom's here now. No reason you can't ease yourself into it," Morning Star said. "Hey, you could even try democracy for a change. Would certainly take the crown off of your head."

"After the war, perhaps." Glimmer looked up at him. "But I can't change my immortality."

"Sorry, kid. That's very much something you have to come to terms with yourself."

"How do you handle it?"

Morning Star shrugged. "I know I'll see my friends again in Fólkvangr, and we'll embrace each other and make merry until the end of days."

"Well, I suppose that would make it easier," Glimmer sighed. "But I don't believe in life after death."

"Then all you can do is enjoy your time with those around you while you can."

* * *

The others slowly woke up as the sun rose higher and gathered around the campfire for breakfast. The only exceptions were Mara, who was still unconscious and had her sustenance tended to by Tabula Rasa, and Catra, who had been tied up in the back of the cave and was being fed by Imp and Emily.

When they were done, Tabula Rasa traced a circle in the rocky ground with the ashes of the fire and motioned everyone to step inside. "Alright, so here's what we're going to do. We have to make it to the other side of the planet. There's no telling what Bright Moon is like right now, so I'm going to need help finding a spot to place us. Glimmer, Angella, if you can join me in the casting ritual, we can use your knowledge of Bright Moon to place us somewhere out of the way."

"Done," Angella nodded. "We should aim for the cliffs opposite the city. It provides good cover and an excellent vantage point."

"And there's a secret back way into the castle," Bow said.

Glimmer promptly put her hand over his mouth. "Seriously?"

Bow grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, but we might need to sneak in to Bright Moon, and there's no guarantee we'll have enough magic to spare for it."

"Well, you can settle that later." Tabula Rasa touched her horn to the circle of ashes and lit it with magical fire. "Alright let's do this!"

The flames rose high into the air and the group found itself drawn into a fiery vortex once again. The trip was smoother this time, and much briefer. When the flames died down, they found themselves just above the surface of a rushing river. The entire group plunged into the water and was swept downstream.

Mermista promptly parted the water around them and left them in a muddy river bed. "Is everyone ok?"

"I nearly drowned," Catra hissed.

"Lay off, it was a fraction of a percent error!" Tabula Rasa snapped. "Alright, so we're here and we're pretty well concealed by the looks of it. Now all we need to do is reconnoiter Bright Moon and make sure the Horde hasn't taken over yet."

A dark silhouette appeared upstream and the group immediately reacted by aiming a variety of weapons and magical spells at it.

"Did someone say ADVENTURE?" Sea Hawk boomed from the deck of his ship.

Mermista pinched the bridge of her nose. "What are you doing here?"

"Sea Hawk was merely keeping tabs on the Horde occupation of Bright Moon while you were away!"

Glimmer's face fell. "But if the Horde has Bright Moon, then we can't get to the Moon Stone and I won't be able to recharge my powers!"

"And it's in such an exposed location too," Angella sighed. "Some days, I wonder if I shouldn't have put it in the castle like with the Fractal Flake."

Sea Hawk threw down a ladder so that everyone could climb aboard – or in Catra's case, be carried aboard and promptly locked below deck by Tabula Rasa.

"A city choking under a fist of iron, nigh impossible odds of victory, and a rag-tag group of resistance fighters hoping to strike a blow for freedom!" He twirled his moustache as he paced back and forth. "Never fear, my noble comrades, for Sea Hawk has surveyed the city in exhausting detail!" He pulled out a heavily annotated map and laid it down on the deck. "I have patrol routes, shifts, and Horde deployments in Bright Moon marked out in exquisite detail!"

"Ok," Mermista said. "That is actually impressive."

Bow studied the map closely. "Ok, so I think I should take Glimmer and Angella up the back way. We'll find some way to sneak up to the Moon Stone so they can recharge. The rest of the group should split up to achieve other objectives. We need to take Mara to Light Hope, and grab First One's tech so Entrapta can engineer a counter-virus."

"I'll need a lab to work in," Entrapta added cheerfully. "Might have to go raid the Horde for supplies."

Scorpia raised her hand. "I can get you stuff."

Frosta crossed her arms and glared at Scorpia. "And why should we trust you?"

Sea Hawk put his arm on Scorpia's shoulder. "My dear Frosta, I think we should hear her out."

"I just want what's best for Catra," Scorpia whispered. "And the Horde isn't good for her."

"As noble as that is, that's no reason for me to trust you. I mean, that just implies that if the Horde became Catra's best option you'd betray us all in an instant."

Scorpia sat down and buried her face in her claws. "Look, I'm bad with words and this has all been a real challenge of a week. But the Horde can't be what's best for Catra because… because she needs to be loved. She needs people who care for her. She needs friends, and she'll never have that in the Horde, because the Horde…" She hesitated as she looked over at Hordak.

"The Horde was founded on the premise of control through power and fear," he said.

Perfuma shook her head. "That's terrible."

"It was Horde Prime's answer to a mathematical problem. He assumed that power was a zero-sum game; there must be winners and there must be losers, and as long as that is the case, one is better off being a winner by any means necessary. This was due as much to his view on the natural order as to the fact that many weapons available to space-faring civilizations are impossible to defend against."

Foxtrot tapped on the deck thoughtfully. "Are ya' talkin' about relativistic kill vehicles?"

"What?" Hordak turned towards Foxtrot sharply. "Well, yes, that would be an excellent example."

"I'm sorry," Swift Wind said. "Could you explain what that is?"

Foxtrot cleared his throat. "A relativistic kill vehicle is a weapon that is primarily dependent on pure speed to inflict damage."

"Right," Bow nodded. "Kinetic energy equals one-half an object's mass multiplied by the square of the velocity."

"Only for conventional situations. Things get weird when you approach the speed of light."

Bow frowned. "What does the kinetic energy equation look like?"

Foxtrot brushed mud off of his coat and wrote an equation down on the deck.

Kinetic Energy = (γ−1)mc2

"Well that doesn't look so bad. That's just a modified version of the kinetic energy equation for light-speed velocities."

Hordak chuckled. "Wait for him to finish."

γ = (1-v2/c2)-1/2

"There," Foxtrot said. "Where _c_ is the speed of light. You do the math."

"Fascinating!" Entrapta breathed. "Bow, do you know what this means?"

"Wait, that can't be right." Bow looked at the equations closely. "The denominator of γ approaches zero as the limit of v approaches c . That means that an object's mass will increase to infinity as it speeds up."

"Which is why faster than light travel is impossible unless you use a workaround, like slipping through dimensions or warping space-time."

"So if you managed to accelerate a projectile to a good amount of light speed, it'd be hard to detect?"

Hordak nodded. "You would not need a large object, and it would be nothing in the vastness of the galaxy. The most prudent course of action for survival would be to strike first before some other civilization – for whatever reason – found your own offensive enough to attack."

Bow shook his head. "That doesn't hold up. Wouldn't portals allow you to communicate warnings faster than light? So you could set up an advanced sensor grid out in deep space and detect any attack far in advance."

Hordak shook his head. "It is impossible to cover a volume of space that vast with enough sensor arrays. Even if it was, what could you do about a relativistic missile?"

"Blow it up? Blast it to bits?"

"By my calculations, that wouldn't work." Entrapta showed Bow her data pad. "The most likely outcome is that the missile fragments and there's a cloud of debris that continues on course, now spread over a wider area."

"Indeed," Hordak said. "Some relativistic weapons actually contain explosive warheads in order to generate shrapnel. The Horde lost an entire battlefleet to such a device at Tannhäuser Gate."

Angella crossed her arms. "And does the Horde use them in turn?"

"Thankfully, Horde Prime has none," Hordak said. "I suppose it's to prevent anyone from turning them against him. Even our ship engines are designed to use thorium fission thrusters as propulsion, since those cannot be easily weaponized."

"How would a rocket big enough to move a cruiser _not _be a weapon?"

"Not easily weaponised compared to alternative fissile materials, fusion or antimatter," Hordak shrugged. "I suppose the universe is fortunate that Horde Prime envisioned himself as a conqueror and not a destroyer."

"Are you trying to justify the Horde's actions? Angella said icily.

"I am merely explaining the Horde's mindset; the conclusions you draw are your own."

Glimmer stepped between the two of them. "Alright, alright. We're glad for the lecture. Now let's make use of it and get what we need."


	9. Chapter 9: Cloak and Dagger

The halls of Bright Moon Castle were now patrolled by Horde soldiers instead of royal guards, but they did not have the time to become familiar with the layout. Bow, Glimmer, and Angella slipped up the walls and quietly observed the patrols from the safety of Glimmer's bedroom.

"So this is how you've been visiting my daughter?" Angella mused. "Bow, should I expect anything to come out of this?"

"Mom!"

"It's not like that, I swear!"

"Oh I know," Angella chuckled. "I just couldn't resist."

Glimmer rolled her eyes. "Well can you wait until after we've evicted the Horde? I think there's a soldier coming."

Bow positioned himself by the door. "I'll pull them in and you subdue them."

Glimmer nodded and raised her fists as Bow flung open the door, grabbed the soldier, and pulled him in. She shot a blast of magic at him, but the soldier channeled his momentum into a roll and swept her legs out from under her. He stood up only to find Bow pointing an arrow in his face.

"Alright, hands up," Bow growled. "And no shouting for help."

The soldier obediently raised his hands, and then promptly grabbed onto the arrow and leaned forward to heabutt Bow with his helmet. Bow went reeling back as the Horde soldier raised his fists, but Angella promptly threw a sheet over him as Glimmer wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Last chance: either you surrender or I teleport you five hundred feet up into the air," she snarled.

The soldier froze. "Alright, alright, fine."

Glimmer waited for Bow to pick up his weapon again before she pushed the Horde soldier into a corner and pulled away the sheet.

Bow squinted through the helmet's faceplate. "Hey, weren't you on the cruiser?"

"Uh, yeah. I think I punched you in the face."

"Enough chit-chat!" Glimmer pushed Bow aside. "How many Horde soldiers are in Bright Moon? What are your patrol routes through the castle? How do we get to the Moon Stone without being seen?"

"Wait, wait." Bow put a hand on Glimmer's shoulder. "Hey, uh, you…"

"Tolliver."

"Right, Tolliver, what happened to Adora?"

Tolliver crossed his arms. "Why should I tell you?"

Glimmer grabbed him by his collar. "Do you want to go for a ride?"

Angella put her hand on Glimmer's wrist. "Glimmer, please."

She knelt down next to Tolliver smiled. "Forgive my daughter. She has been under a great deal of stress lately. I know that you have little reason to work with us, but I hope you can tell us if our friend is alright, at the very least."

He sighed. "Alright, look: I got stuck with Adora when Catra left to chase you guys down. Horde Prime made me carry her to his lab and strap her onto an examination table. I saw him connect a bunch of sensors and wires to her before he told me to go join the invasion of Bright Moon."

Bow frowned. "What could he want with her?"

Tolliver threw up his hands. "Hey man, your guess is as good as mine."

"Whatever it is, it can't be anything good." Glimmer said. "We've got to get back on his cruiser as soon as possible!"

"Well, good luck with that," Tolliver said. "Horde Prime was issuing orders to move it into deep space as I was leaving. He's beyond Etheria's moons now."

Angella raised her eyebrows. "That is too far for us to teleport; even the closest moon is many times more distant than the diameter of our planet."

"Then what do we do?" Bow groaned.

Glimmer clenched her fists. "We'll have to ask Shadow Weaver for help."

* * *

The Horde's command center in Bright Moon was set up in the old marketplace, where they could have a clear view of the refugees huddled in their tents. Their presence in the city was massive, due to the extra troops that Horde Prime had brought with him, which left many of Hordak's soldiers assigned to rear-echelon duties.

Kyle sat on top of a supply crate outside of a communication center slowly chewing his way through a grey ration bar. He had just managed to get halfway through when he promptly choked and stood at attention. Scorpia and Catra were walking up to him, and neither looked happy.

"At ease, cadet," Catra nodded curtly. "We need to send a message to Horde Prime telling him we've escaped."

"What?" Kyle looked at Scorpia suspiciously. "Didn't Scorpia sting you and surrender?"

Scorpia frowned. "Hey, don't put this on me. I was trying to stop the rest of you from getting fried."

"Yeah, you should be grateful that Scorpia saved everyone, instead of cowering and throwing in the towel." Catra opened the door and motioned for Scorpia to join her. "Come on, let's file a report with Horde Prime."

The inside of the communication center was bustling with activity, until Catra clapped her hands. "Alright everyone, get out! I have some very private business to discuss with Horde Prime!"

The communication officers looked at each other in bewilderment. Catra tapped the Force Commander badge on her chest impatiently. "You have ten seconds before I start taking names to tell Horde Prime who got in the way of him receiving valuable intelligence on the Rebellion."

The communication center promptly cleared out, leaving Catra and Scorpia alone inside.

"Wow, Tabula," Scorpia said in amazement. "I can't believe that worked."

"I can," Tabula Rasa replied. "I've been doing this sort of thing for years. You just have to understand that a tyrant's whims often undermine their chain of command, so their minions won't follow protocol if they think it'll uspet the boss."

She walked over to one of the terminals. "Ok, so is this the kind of computer Entrapta needs?"

"I'm no expert, but I think so?" Scorpia examined it closely. "It does look like some of the stuff in her lab."

"Alright. We teleport out on the count of three." Tabula Rasa drew a circle around the terminal with salt. "Ready? One, two–"

"Uh, Force Commander? What are you doing?"

Tabula Rasa and Scorpia looked at the door sharply to see Kyle standing there.

"Oh, uh, hello there Kyle," Scorpia said. "Um… how much did you hear?"

Rogelio and Lonnie stepped into the room behind Kyle, with their stunners drawn.

"We heard enough," she growled. "First Adora and now you, Scorpia? When did y'all become so soft?"

"I'm not soft," Scorpia snapped. "I'm fighting for what I believe in!"

"The rebellion?"

"No, I'm… I'm trying to help Catra, and this is what she needs."

"She needs a communications terminal?"

"Catra needs help, and the Horde isn't the place to get it!"

Lonnie crossed her arms. "As much as I agree with that statement, I'm not going to let you help the Rebellion."

"Why not?"

"Excuse me? Why not?" Lonnie pointed straight up. "How about the fact that the ruler of the universe is hovering above us?"

Tabula Rasa laughed. "Ah, so you're a coward."

Lonnie pointed the stunner at her. "Watch it, 'Catra'. You keep jawing, and you might bite off more than you can chew."

Scorpia stepped in front of Tabula Rasa. "Come on, I don't want to hurt any of you."

"Well well, I didn't know you had it in you," Lonnie sneered. "You finally started caring for someone other than Catra."

Kyle gave her an odd look. "Lonnie, are you… jealous?"

"What? No!" Lonnie sputtered. "I was just… It just bugs me that Scorpia's always fixated on Catra, ok? Catra this, Catra that, Catra and I are soulmates."

Rogelio and Kyle watched nervously as Scorpia walked up to them.

"Lonnie… guys…" She looked at each of them. "I know I shouldn't have been so focused on Catra; it wasn't fair to the team, it wasn't right for me, and it wasn't good for Catra either. I never meant to make you feel like you weren't important; you're all a part of my team, and I'll always look out for you."

Kyle gave her a pat on the arm. "Well, uh, I'm just glad that you're back to normal and not acting like a robot."

Rogelio nodded behind him.

"And as nice as that is," Lonnie said, "I don't see how you antagonizing Horde Prime is helping us. Especially since we'd take the fall."

"Then can come with us!"

Lonnie's jaw dropped. "Say what?"

"You heard me! We'll strike it out on our own from now on! There's so much of this world – of this universe – to see, and we can go do it instead of taking orders from Horde Prime!"

"It won't do us no good when he rules the universe. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to become a fugitive for your sake." Lonnie charged up the stun baton. "Look, just surrender and I'll do what I can to make it easy on you–"

Lonnie screamed and collapsed onto the ground as Rogelio shocked her with his weapon. He gently slung her over his shoulder and put an arm around Kyle.

"Let's go," he said.

* * *

It was infuriating, really.

Shadow Weaver leaned back in her chair and stared up at the ceiling.

Surely Horde Prime must have known of her prodigious talent. After all, it was she who unlocked the secrets of the Black Garnet. Only an exceptionally powerful sorceress could have accomplished such a task, yet Horde Prime chose not to reach out to her, even as his troops subjugated Bright Moon.

The correct response would have been for him to send a trusted lieutenant to secure her cooperation immediately, even if she was helping the Rebellion and unlikely to help them. Not to court her power was more than a mistake, it was an insult.

All that had happened was that the guards in front of her door had changed.

There was a burst of teleportation magic in the room. Shadow Weaver did not have to look away for the ceiling to know who it belonged to.

"Glimmer, I see that you are back again. And you've brought three people with you. A most impressive development of your powers."

"She had help, actually," Angella said icily.

Her unexpected presence caused Shadow Weaver to nearly fall out of her chair. "Angella? I thought you were adrift between dimensions!"

"Well, I'm back now."

Shadow Weaver looked over the group closely. Bow and Glimmer were there as well, along with a captured Horde soldier. "I see. Well, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"We're going to teleport onboard Horde Prime's ship and rescue Adora," Glimmer said.

"And you need my help to do so?" Shadow Weaver stood up and stretched her back. "Very well, I accept! It's good to be among people who recognize my true worth."


	10. Chapter 10: Answers

Mermista stood on the deck of the Dragon's Daughter V and looked over the tracking pad Bow had left with them. Technology was not her forte, but the device seemed simple enough. There was a map of the Whispering Woods, and an icon where Bow's sensor arrays detected One's technology signatures. It was just a pity that it took so long to find them.

"Urgh, this thing is taking forever." She set the tracking pad aside and watched the others work. Behind her, Frosta and Perfuma were strapping Mara onto Swift Wind so that they could safely carry her on the trip.

Morning Star looked over at the screen. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know, maybe the Horde knocked out some of Bow's sensor arrays."

"Well, we might as well go about our duties in the meantime." He bit the handle of the door leading to the cargo hold and pulled it open. Morning Star promptly laughed when he saw that Catra had been cocooned to the side of a large crate in thick silk webs.

"I'm glad this is so amusing for you," she hissed.

"Oh wow, Tabula Rasa really went all out." Morning Star jumped down into the cargo hold and tore the cocoon apart with his teeth. "There we go!"

Catra stretched out on the floor and cracked her vertebrae. "Your boss is terrifying."

Morning Star shrugged. "You get used to it after a few centuries."

"So, did she ask you to stay behind and babysit me?"

"Nah, we're just gettin' ready to head out and find 'Light Hope'."

Catra sank into deep thought as she leaned alongside the crate. Morning Star could tell she was planning something, but simply watched and waited.

"Hey, are you about done down there?" Mermista poked her head into the cargo hold. "Wait, what's she doing loose?"

"Regulation prisoner exercise time," Morning Star said.

"Well, it's over. We've got a signal and it's time for us to go! Tie her up or something and meet us on the deck!"

Catra straightened up. "I want in."

Mermista glared at her. "You? What would you want to see Light Hope about?"

"I have questions."

"Yeah, I'm sure the Horde's Force Commander wants to get out into the Whispering Woods just so she can ask a First One's hologram a question." Mermista rolled her eyes. "Tell you what, why don't you tell me what your big question is, and maybe I'll ask for you."

"It's none of your business what it is," Catra snarled.

Morning Star stomped on the floor to draw their attention. "Mermista's right, you know; no one here owes you any favors. Can you give her one reason she should let you come along?"

Catra shot Morning Star a venomous look, but said nothing.

"Alright, are we done now?" Mermista groaned. "We're on a tight schedule here."

"I suppose we are." Morning Star walked up to Catra and stretched out his wings. "Get on, we don't have much time."

"What?" Mermista dropped down and pointed her trident at Catra. "What makes you think she isn't up to something?"

"I don't doubt that she is, but I'm interested in seeing what she has to say. I figure everyone deserves a chance, right?"

"What, everyone?"

Morning Star shrugged. "Well, at the very least it'd be uncharitable and hypocritical for me to not give others the same opportunities afforded to myself."

Catra gave out a sharp laugh. "Where was your charity when you blew up a ship full of Horde soldiers?"

"Hey, I gave 'em a chance to stand down. Not my fault they responded by opening fire." Morning Star looked at her cooly. "Do you want to come along, or are you tryin' to annoy me enough that I rescind the offer so you can bow out and save face?"

Catra swallowed her pride and whispered. "I want to come."

Mermista brought out a length of rope. "Well we still need to tie her up."

Catra rolled her eyes. "Oh yes, tie me up. I've been a bad kitty."

"Save it for Adora." Mermista landed in front of her and held out the rope. "Arms behind your back, now."

They stared at each other tensely before Catra turned around and held her wrists behind her. "There, happy?"

"I'm ecstatic." Mermista tied the rope around Catra's hands and arms securely, then checked the blood flow before helping her onto Morning Star. "Alright, we three go together. Frosta and Mara get to ride with Swift Wind.

"Affirmative."

He let them climb aboard and flew out of the cargo hold to join Swift Wind, who was already in the air. They flew out of the canyon and kept close to the tree line to avoid being seen by the Horde.

"You know," Morning Star said, "I'm surprised we have to use that pad at all considerin' that Swift Wind has been there before."

"It doesn't help when the woods keep shifting around," Swift Wind snorted. "I have to either sense where Adora is in these woods or have her show me herself."

Mermista pointed down ahead of them. "Don't worry, we're close! Look down there, I can see the ruins!"

"Finally," Catra grumbled. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"I'm going to try and not take that personally," Morning Star chuckled.

They glided down and landed in the forest clearing that housed the First One's ruins. Catra immediately fell to the ground and began dry heaving.

"Alright, not going to get anywhere near that," Memista said. "Morning Star, you wanted her here so you can watch her."

She placed the other end of Catra's rope in his mouth and walked towards the door. "Swift Wind, can you open this?"

"Sure thing!" Swift Wind trotted up to it and touched his horn to the door. "Eternia!"

The entrance rumbled open and they descended into the structure. Many of the halls were blocked by rubble. Some of it looked centuries old, while others were freshly destroyed. They continued through the hallway until they found the main chamber. Light Hope was waiting for them with an expression of surprise on her face.

"Swift Wind, you have brought Mara? How is this possible?" She flickered as her processor ran probability calculations. "By my estimates, the chances of her having survived are… inestimably small."

"Hm. Right, you don't remember because of the portal," Swift Wind said. "Well, while you were all dealing with things on Etheria, I got pulled into another dimension altogether and managed to avoid the reset. Mara was out in an extradimensional void after stranding Etheria in Despondos, and I managed to find her with my magical senses."

"I had no idea such a thing was possible. I will update my databases accordingly." Light Hope looked at Mara's unconscious form. "It would seem that time has not been kind to her."

Frosta pulled Mara's unconscious form off of Swift Wind. "We were hoping you could help wake her!"

"I am here to assist She-Ra," Light Hope said. "Mara is no longer She-Ra. She forsook that title long ago."

"Well what about the fact that she's a person who needs help?" Frosta shouted. "Does that mean anything to you?"

"There are many people who need help. The best way to help them is for me to assist She-Ra."

Swift Wind frowned. "Ok, but that's just an abstract principle. Right now, we have Mara, and she needs treatment. And I'm sure Adora would want you to do something for her."

"That is an extrapolation on your part. I am not willing to undertake such an action. The limited resources of this facility are intended for the use of She-Ra only."

Catra pushed her way to the front of the crowd, dragging Morning Star with her. "This is ridiculous! Adora this, Adora that, as if the whole world revolves around Adora! What's so special about Adora? Is she the Chosen One?"

Light Hope frowned. "Do not be foolish, there is no such thing as a 'Chosen One'. Adora is merely special because she is the only First One to have come to Etheria in a thousand years."

"Oh wow, now I know you're on the fritz." Catra kicked through Light Hope's hologram and watched it frizzle. "Hey genius, Adora's an Etherian! I've lived with her my entire life!"

"Incorrect." The lights went out and their surroundings were replaced by a grassy field at night. Wind whistled through the plains from a portal. As their eyes adjusted to the bright portal, they could see Hordak standing in front of it carrying a baby in his arms.

"This was Hordak's first attempt at opening a portal. Despite the odds, it was not a total failure and he managed to make a brief connection. In that instant, Adora was torn from her family and deposited here, representing the last hope for She-Ra to return and bring salvation to Etheria."

"A portal," Catra whispered. "Wait, I knew this. But.. but that's impossible. No one ever told me… no one could possibly have known this. No one except for Hordak and…" Catra turned on Light Hope with fury in her eyes. "You! What did you do to me?"

Mermista grabbed Catra by the shoulders. "Hey, calm down!"

"I'll calm down when this toaster tells me what's going on!"

"I did nothing to you," Light Hope said.

"I don't believe that for a second! The last time you were here, you scanned my brain and put me through hell!" Catra snarled. "Now unless I've developed psychic powers, you and Hordak are the only people who could have known Adora came through that portal, and Hordak sure didn't plant that idea into my head."

Morning Star jerked back on Catra's rope so that she fell backwards into him.

"All I have ever done is give Catra knowledge. Her actions are her own, as they have always been."

"What was the point of that?" Swift Wind shouted. "You didn't cause the problem, but you sure set it up! Why would you do that?"

"Because it would help Adora realize what Catra truly is, so she would let go."

For a moment, it seemed like Catra might burst out of her bonds in raw fury, but then she slumped back against Morning Star and slid down onto the ground. "And what am I, Light Hope?"

"You are a millstone around her neck; if she does not cut you loose then she will drown."

Catra sighed. "Yeah, what else is new?"

Morning Star dropped the rope. "Ah, of course. 'But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.'"

Light Hope looked astonished. "Why… yes."

"I wonder, do you remember the next passage?" Morning Star asked. "'How think ye? If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.'"

"What is your point, pegasus?"

"Just seems that you could have solved the problem two different ways is all." Morning Star drawled. "Well, I won't waste too much time debatin' with a computer program. Don't want you to fry a logic gate or anythin'."

He gave Catra a nudge. "Come on, let's get back to base."

"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow that." Light Hope vanished and the plains were suddenly populated by a small army of Horde soldiers. "You would likely damage my relationship with Adora, and I cannot accept that risk."

"Are you serious?" Swift Wind yelled. "Adora is on Horde Prime's cruiser! She's millions of miles away from us, and if we don't rescue her you'll never see her or the Sword again! But you want to kill us?"

The simulation stopped and they were in the main chamber again.

"Very well," Light Hope said. "It appears that I have no choice. You may leave to rescue Adora. But Catra stays."

Mermista leveled her trident at Light Hope. "And why would that be?"

Catra promptly kicked her in the shin. "Get lost, Mermista. I don't need your help."

"You know," Frosta said, "As much as I like the idea of leaving Catra – and I really do – I have to draw the line somewhere."

"Roger!" Swift Wind grabbed Catra's rope and made off for the exit at full speed.

The others followed raced down the halls behind Swift Wind as the lights grew red as the chattering of spider robots filled the air. A pair of them stepped in front of the group and Frosta fired off a shard of ice that cut the legs out from under one while Mermista dashed forward and impaled the other through the head with her trident.

Far off in the distance, the door was closing far too fast for them to make it. Morning Star leaped into the air and turned into a bolt of lightning as raced into the gap. He planted his hooves against the door and the frame, with his wings tucked in so that the others could pass through.

Swift Wind flew past him with Catra in tow as the door bore down hard on him. His muscles strained as they fought to keep the mechanism open for the others. Mermista and Frosta were still behind him, and far too slow.

"Hurry!" He groaned. "I'm under a lot of pressure!"

"I've got it!" Frosta shouted. She hit the ground with a blast of ice magic that formed a slick layer of ice over the floor and threw herself and Mermista on it. They slid past Morning Star and he finally let go.

The door shut behind them with a solid thud, and they were safe in the clearing again.

Catra stood up the best she could and glared at them. "What were you people thinking? I can handle myself! I don't need you to save me!"

Frosta promptly threw a fistfull of dirt at her. "Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, not everything's about you?"

"Oh yeah? Then what was that about?"

"How about common decency, you jerk?"

Catra laughed bitterly. "Sparer me the morality lecture. If you're going to put yourself at risk for principles alone, then you're a fool. You think the Horde has principles?"

"Spare us the realpolitik lecture," Mermista snapped. "Come on, we're done here. Let's go."

* * *

Hordak surveyed the cargo hold to plan out Entapta's makeshift lab. He worked slowly – his weak body was not much without an exoskeleton – but he was able to clear out a generous amount of space after a few minutes of hard work. It would have no doubt been easier if he had asked for help, but Sea Hawk was busy standing watch and Perfuma was preoccupied with camouflaging the ship with local vegetation.

Just as he finished, he heard a series of screams and loud thumps from above deck. They were immediately followed by Tabula Rasa teleporting downstairs with a communications terminal, Scorpia, and the cadets.

"Second time's the charm," she chuckled nervously. "What? Come on, I was only off by a few centimeters!"

Kyle looked around nervously while Rogelio held an unconscious Lonnie in his arms. They backed up behind Scorpia when they caught sight of Hordak.

"Cadets," Hordak nodded curtly. "What brings you here?"

"The Horde wasn't working out for us," Rogelio growled.

"Yes… I suppose it ultimately works for no one except Horde Prime," Hordak mused. "I take it Lonnie disagreed, Kyle?"

"I don't know," Kyle said. "It sounded like she doesn't like it, but is too afraid to leave."

"Smart girl. It is a shame she had to get dragged into all this."

Scorpia crossed her arms. "If we had left her behind, she would have taken the blame and the punishment."

"Yes, I wager she would have been made an example of." Hordak fumbled around in a crate and pulled out a folding chair. "You may as well set her down here, cadet."

Rogelio carefully set Lonnie in the chair before turning to Hordak. "Did you forget my name?"

"Well, it is not quite my responsibility to know the names of all the cadets," Hordak mumbled awkwardly.

"Just Adora, Catra, Lonnie, and Kyle, then?"

Scorpia gave Hordak a pat on the back. "It's ok. I didn't learn his name for months. Rogelio's pretty quiet."

"Yes; speaking up and standing out in the Horde does not work out well."

Hordak thought over how Horde Prime handled his objections. "Upon reflection, I would have to agree."

"Or maybe it's because y'all had nothing good to say," Lonnie snapped.

"Oh good, you're awake!" Scorpia promptly hugged her and set her on top of a waist high crate. "Do you feel ok? Do you have any electric burns? Odd pains? Can you remember my name? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Scorpia, you have claws!"

"Wow, you're good at this! I proclaim you sound of mind and body!"

There was another burst of magic, and Glimmer's group appeared in the cargo hold with them.

"Oh come on," Tolliver groaned. "Did everyone get captured? We suck at this!"

"No, just us," Lonnie said. "Everyone else defected."

"Wow, we really suck at this!"

"Put a sock in it." Glimmer shoved him into the folding chair.

"Charming," Shadow Weaver said. "And hello, Lord Hordak. Has Horde Prime been treating you well?"

"Shadow Weaver, what a pleasure. Do you plan on killing this protege like you did her father?"

Angella immediately slapped Hordak hard enough to send him reeling into the communications terminal, and then delivered a resounding blow to Shadow Weaver.

Shadow Weaver massaged her jaw. "What was that for?"

"For Micah." Angella looked at the two of them sternly. "Are you two ready to behave like adults, or are we going to have to start locking people up?"

Hordak tightened his jaw and nodded, while Shadow Weaver gave a casual shrug.

"Good," Angella said. "Now let's allow Entrapta some space to work on those shield algorithms, shall we?"


	11. Chapter 11: All Aboard

Swift Wind and Morning Star landed on the deck to see far more people on it than when they had left. Several of them were Horde soldiers, who promptly ducked when Morning Star drew near.

"Oh knock it off." Morning Star landed in front of them and and flicked his tail in annoyance. "I'm not here to kill anyone."

Catra looked down at them from atop Morning Star. "What are you all doing here? Let me guess: You all got captured."

Kyle raised his hand. "Uh, actually Rogelio and I defected."

If Catra could have facepalmed, she would have. "Dammit, Kyle."

"So I'm guessing that everything went well?" Mermista said.

Bow pointed up at the sky. "Well enough, but we still need to get up there somehow."

"What's wrong with teleporting?" Glimmer pointed at Tabula Rasa and Shadow Weaver. "Shadow Weaver can do precision casting, and Tabula Rasa has more raw power than anything I've ever seen!"

Shadow Weaver shook her head. "The arcane calculus governing teleportation spells rules out teleporting directly onto Horde Prime's cruiser even if we could bypass the shields. He's currently over 300 thousand kilometers away, and Tabula Rasa can't supply that much power. I'm not sure anything we have access to can, unless someone has a plasma reactor lying about."

Sea Hawk stroked his moustache thoughtfully. "It sounds like you need a ship of some sort!"

"I would offer my own, but I long ago stripped it for parts," Hordak said. "There is no other ship on Etheria."

Scorpia raised a claw. "What about Mara's spacecraft?"

Bow shook his head. "It was basically dead when we got there."

Foxtrot tapped the deck thoughtfully. "Why don't we just use it to shield us from space and find some other method of propulsion?"

"Do you have any ideas?"

"Have Mornin' Star tow us into orbit so we can perform a powered flyby and build up speed. Since the ship's systems are non-functional, there wouldn't be much for his sensors to detect as we approach, and Tabula Rasa can cloak us on top of that. If we don't have any sentimental attachment to the craft, we can also crash it into the cruiser to serve as a distraction."

"Hold on," Perfuma said. "If the systems are offline, then how do we survive?"

Tabula Rasa's eyes lit up. "I can provide a safe environment! There's a spell for it!"

Hordak scratched his chin. "It seems plausible, but we'd have to do the math."

Foxtrot closed his eyes and took in several deep breaths. "What's the radius of this planet, and how much does it weigh?"

Everyone looked at each other in confusion until the trap door burst open and Entrapta joined them on the deck.

"Etheria has a radius of 7,100 kilometers and a mass of 7.5 zettatons!"

"Alright. That means this here planet has an escape velocity of 11.9 kilometers per second. How much do you think Mara's craft weighed?"

He looked at Bow, Glimmer, and Scorpia.

"Um… maybe 80 tons?" Scorpia guessed.

Bow nodded. "That seems fair."

Foxtrot looked over at Morning Star. "Think you can manage those numbers?"

"Hold onto your horseshoes, you want me to generate over a million Newtons of force?"

"Are you sayin' that ain't possible?"

"I'm just clarifyin' what you need done, because it looks like I'm goin' to have to ask for help."

"This is fascinating!" Entrapta struck a pose on deck with her hair holding her up far above the others. "We're going to have a space trip!"

Hordak took hold of her ankle and gently pulled her down with the rest of them. "That is assuming that you have Horde Prime's shield frequencies?"

"I do indeed," she proudly declared. "Shame I couldn't do more, though. An anti-virus would help us cure Adora permanently, but I heard we didn't manage to get any First One's tech?"

"No, Frosta sighed. "We were distracted by Light Hope trying to murder us."

Behind her, Catra wriggled in her bonds until a blue crystal fell out. "Whoops, look at what I have here. It must have fallen into my pocket when Light Hope wasn't looking."

"First One's tech!" Entrapta made a lunge for it, but Catra brought her foot down firmly on it and extended her claws.

"Not so fast. If you want this, then you're going to have to make a deal."

Angella motioned everyone to back away from Catra. "Catra, what did you have in mind?"

Catra's eyes narrowed. "I'm coming with you."

"No way!" Frosta formed ice gauntlets and raised her fists. "You're just trying to sabotage our mission!"

"Listen," Catra said. "I'm just going to admit that I'm not trustworthy, but you can trust me to act in my own interests, ok? And I want to rescue Adora."

"Oh yeah? And why would you want that seeing as your master has her?"

Catra clenched her knuckles until they turned white. "He's got Adora. I can't beat Adora as long as he has her. So either you let me fight her, or you can get your own crystal."

"Take it easy, Wildcat. We can talk this out." Scorpia advanced on Catra slowly, with her stinger tucked firmly behind her back.

Catra backed away and dragged the crystal with her. "Don't come any closer, and keep that stinger where I can see it."

Scorpia raised her tail and retreated in defeat.

"I have had enough of this ridiculous spectacle," Shadow Weaver snapped. She grabbed hold of Glimmer and seized Catra with dark energy. Catra screamed as she was lifted her up into the air with Shadow Weaver's black magic coursing through her body.

Glimmer brought her food down hard on Shadow Weaver's toes, then delivered an uppercut to her chin. It broke Shadow Weaver's concentration and Catra fell towards the deck. Scorpia rushed forwards and caught her while Bow grabbed the crystal.

Shadow Weaver stumbled back into Angella, who immediately threw her over the side. Mermista reached out towards the river and lifted Shadow Weaver up on a geyser of water.

"You are a terrible, vile, evil woman," Angella snapped. "I am rescinding our offer to you; you are going to be locked up until this fight is over, at which point you will be immediately extradited to Mystacor to stand trial for your crimes."

"You would defend that insolent brat over the most powerful sorceress to ever–"

Mermista plunged her under the water for a few seconds before raising her up again. "I'm sorry, were you saying something?"

Shadow Weaver glared at her in silence. Vines from the cliffs above wrapped themselves around her and carried her onto the ship, where Sea Hawk grabbed her roughly and steered her below deck."

"I should have known asking Shadow Weaver for anything was a mistake," Glimmer sighed.

"You did your best, dear." Angella hugged her. "It is hardly your fault that some people are not worth saving."

"I guess so." Glimmer looked over at Catra thoughtfully. "Mom, excuse me for a moment."

She walked up to Scorpia and Catra. "Scorpia, cut her loose."

"No problem!" Scorpia snipped the ropes and set Catra on the ground. "There you go!"

"Thanks." Glimmer offered her hand to Catra. "I want to talk to you in private. Let's go to the captain's cabin."

Catra took Glimmer's hand without much enthusiasm and let herself be led to the cabin. She threw herself onto Sea Hawk's hammock and stared at the ceiling as Glimmer locked the door.

"So what's this about, Sparkles?"

"You're not doing yourself any favors," Glimmer snapped. "You've been a huge pain in my neck for ages and if you want to join us you're going to have to give me a really good reason beyond wanting to finally beat Adora at something."

"You wouldn't get it," Catra sat up and glared at her. "You and Adora are so alike, it's no wonder you're such good friends. You've had everything handed to you your whole life! You'll never understand what it's like to never have anything!"

"Hey, it hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows in Bright Moon," Glimmer shouted. "The Horde killed my father and destroyed our homes! I've been fighting my entire life!"

"Oh boo hoo, at least you had dad died, but at least you had a loving father! I had Shadow Weaver. You know what that's like? That negative parenting."

"Is this a competition? Is that what this is?" Glimmer threw her hands up in the air. "Fine, you win! You had the worst childhood! It sucked! It was terrible! So why do you keep making things terrible now?"

Catra jumped out of the hammock and pressed her face against Glimmer's. "Don't you talk like that to me! It's not my fault that–"

"That what? Everything is your fault. You tried to destroy reality! No one forced you to throw that switch, you did that on your own!"

"Because I wanted to win! I wanted to have something for once, something no one could take from me!" Catra's vision grew blurry and she suddenly realized that she was crying. She quickly turned away from Glimmer and wiped away the tears. "Why are you wasting time with me anyways? You've got the crystal."

Glimmer sighed and pulled two chairs over. "Catra, sit down. Please?"

Catra took a seat grudgingly, but kept her eyes focused on the ground.

"I'll admit, you're right." Catra's ears twitched and she looked up sharply. "I've gone through a lot, but I've always had my mom and my friends to support me. And when my mom disappeared, it felt like I lost everything. It was… it was like my dad died all over again, but this time, there was no one who could ever help me through it. Not even my friends."

Glimmer looked around the cabin and saw a half-empty bottle of sherry on Sea Hawk's desk. She popped it open and took a swig before offering it to Catra, who took a much more generous portion. "Okay, so what I'm trying to say is that you're right when you say that I won't ever understand what you've been through. But that doesn't mean I can't empathize with you."

"Why would you?"

Glimmer frowned. "What kind of a question is that? Normal people empathize with one another. There are literally brain cells that activate when we see emotions in others."

"Well that doesn't mean you should do it. Getting angry is a natural reaction too, but you guys keep a pretty firm lid on that emotion."

"But anger is destructive. Empathy is constructive. You can build relationships and make friends with it."

"So what," Catra scoffed. "Are you trying to be my friend?"

"I'm trying to see if there's any reason I should take you up on your offer. You've fought Adora more than anyone else, and if she's going berserk we'll need all the help we can get. So help me understand if there's any reason to trust you."

"You want a reason? Fine." Catra drained the bottle. "I want to beat Adora for once! I want a victory that I can own, and that no one can ever take from me! So I'll play your game and rescue her since that'll prove I'm better than her and that I don't need her for anything! Is that a good enough reason?"

Glimmer sighed. "I suppose it's something to consider."

She left Catra in the cabin and walked out the door. All eyes were on her outside; for a second, Glimmer wondered if they had done anything else other than wait and possibly eavesdrop on her conversation.

"How'd it go?" Bow asked.

"Confusing. What have the rest of you been up to?"

Tabula Rasa bounced around on the deck cheerfully. "We've decided to find Mara's shuttle! I'll be teleporting us there whenever we're ready!"

"No time like the present, right guys?" Glimmer looked around for signs of dissent and found none. "Hit it, Tabula!"

A ring of green fire formed on the water and circled the boat as Tabula Rasa began the teleportation spell.

"Wait," Sea Hawk said. "If Mara's ship is in the Crimson Waste, then where is my boat going to–"


	12. Chapter 12: Per Aspera Ad Astra

The Crimson Waste was a desert, but like many deserts it still bordered bodies of water. A desert is simply a barren landscape where little precipitation occurs. Nothing prevents deserts from having springs, rivers, lakes, or even seas. Consequently. the Dragon's Daughter appeared in a wreath of fire in the sea, two miles off the northern shore of the Crimson Waste.

"Oh thank the heavens!" Sea Hawk said in relief. "I thought for a moment that my ship would be stranded in the desert sands!"

He paused and studied the area closely. "Tabula, you did intend to teleport my ship into the sea, correct?"

"What? Of course! Why would I try anything else? This is exactly where I intended for us to end up."

"Right…" Sea Hawk cleared his throat. "Well anyways, allow me to ferry you to shore so that you may embark upon your next adventure! I regret that I will be unable to accompany you to the skies above, but Shadow Weaver must be delivered to Mystacor, Mara be sent to their healers, Emily and Imp must stay out of the way, and the Horde soldiers must be transferred into someone's custody."

Glimmer looked at Angella. "My mom should go with you as well."

Angella wrapped her arms around Glimmer. "I'm not letting you go into battle while I stay behind again!"

"But we can't have the entire royal family in one battle. Bright Moon needs you."

"That it does," Angella sighed. "The moment I get back, I am organizing a democracy."

Scorpia raised her claw. "And what do we do about Catra? Is she coming with us, or..."

"I don't know," Glimmer said. "She's not loyal to Horde Prime, and she knows how to beat Adora, but she might also stab us in the back for her own reasons. I just don't know if I can trust her. We won't need her help at any rate; there should be enough of us to take on Horde Prime's troops."

Tabula Rasa shook her head. "Horde Prime has two frigates escorting his ship, and taking out a frigate in combat is going to be more difficult than blindsiding one. Morning Star and I will need to keep them distracted or else they might launch retaliatory attacks on Etheria. Someone else needs to disable the cruiser's weapons themselves."

"On it!" Entrapta giggled. "I can use the terminal to hack his ship! It'll take his weapons and communications offline so he can't tell his ground troops to do anything either!"

Bow nodded. "We'll need an escape vehicle too. Preferably some sort of dedicated transport rather than an escape pod."

Hordak stepped forward. "I will pilot it, as I am the only one who is familiar with Horde ships. And, regrettably, the only one here who is too weak for the rigors of combat."

Glimmer counted off on her fingers. "So that leaves… five princesses, Foxtrot, Swift Wind, and Bow. That's not nearly enough."

Rogelio gave Kyle a hug and joined the circle. "I'll come."

Scorpia promptly smacked him in the back and sent him flying into Swift Wind. "Well alright! Welcome aboard, Rogelio!"

Glimmer added him to the roster. "Who else can we get?"

"Well, we're going to need Huntara to guide us to the ship," Bow said. "So we might as well ask her too. But we could always use more."

Scorpia looked around at the group hesitantly. "Can we put including Catra to a vote among the assault team, then? I'm for it."

"Sorry, Scorpia." Entrapta's hair formed into a thumb's down.

Hordak shook his head next to her, while Bow and Glimmer made their disapproval clear as well. Swift Wind, Mermista, Perfuma, and Frosta joined them.

"I vote we give the kid a shot."

Everyone stared at Morning Star in surprise, but none more than Scorpia. Her mouth was caping open as she struggled to articulate herself.

"Close your jaw, you'll catch a fly if you're not careful," Morning Star chuckled.

"Hold your horses – sorry – I mean, just wait one minute there," Glimmer sputtered. "Why in the name of all that is good and holy would you do that?"

Morning Star looked over at Tabula Rasa. "I've been with Tabula Rasa for a few hundred years now, and I've learned a lot about generosity, compassion, and mercy from her. And I try to apply those lessons in my life now."

"If you learned anything from me, it is because of my teachers," Tabula Rasa said. "I'm sure they would be happy to see that their lessons still hold value many generations later. I support you."

Foxtrot shrugged. "Alright, if the boss is for it, I'm for it."

"I'd like to change my vote," Swift Wind said. "I'll give her a chance."

"Well, that's seven to five," Bow counted.

Rogelio closed his eyes and reflected on Catra. "Unlike all of you, I have known Catra my entire life. She has suffered greatly at the hands of the Horde; consequently, she has many character flaws, some of them quite severe. She is cruel, spiteful, self-centered, ruthless, and insecure. But for all her faults, I never questioned the bond between her and Adora. No matter what form their relationship takes there will always be a bond. I believe that, if forced to choose between Horde Prime having Adora and Adora being free, Catra will help us rescue her. Therefore, I vote to bring her along."

"Seven to six. Still not enough."

Kyle stood up and grabbed a stun baton. "You know what? I'm tired of being useless. If Rogelio's in, then I'm in. And I'm voting for Catra."

"Seven to seven." Bow looked at the others. "Anyone want to be the tie breaker?"

"Aren't we recruiting Huntara?" Rogelio said. "Why not have her do it?"

"I suppose that's fair enough. We can ask Huntara."

Glimmer shook her head. "I am starting to have doubts about this democracy thing, but if it's what you all want…"

She walked over to the cabin and opened the door. Catra was passed out against the wall, cradling the empty bottle of sherry in her arms. Glimmer unceremoniously shook her until it was obvious she was too far gone, and then dragged her out onto the deck.

"Well, it looks like we'll have to tell her the news en route."

* * *

The gentle murmur of a dozen conversations filled the wasteland cantina as its patrons discussed how the Horde's new reinforcements had seized control of Bright Moon in less than a day. Huntara sat in the back and listened in the best she could, hoping that her friends were alright.

The curtain jingled and she smiled as she saw Bow and Glimmer walk in.

"There you are," she chuckled. "And where's Adora?"

Bow's face fell. "They got her."

"But we're going to get her back!" Glimmer said. "And we could use your help, if you're up to it."

Huntara whipped out her spear and extended it. "Why not? I'm about done hiding in this watering hole. Where do they have her?"

"On a five kilometer long spaceship three-hundred thousand kilometers away, but don't worry. We can get there; all we need is Mara's craft."

"It's been picked clean, but if you really want to find that hunk of junk I'll lead you back to it."

A shadowy figure leaped onto a bar and flung his cloak across the room.

"Not so fast, Huntara!" He declared. "It is I, Tung Lashor, ruler of the Crimson Wastes!"

Bow scratched his head. "I'm sorry, who?"

"He's a rival gang leader," Huntara sighed. "He does this every now and then."

Tung Lashor stomped on the bar. "Excuse me, I'm trying to have a monologue here! Do I go about interrupting you when you speak? No? Then could you have the common decency to keep quiet?"

"Whatever," Glimmer said. "We need to get going. No more getting sidetracked."

Huntara waved at Tung Lashor merrily. "Bye Honey. Take care of the kids while I'm away!"

"W-what? Hey! Get back here and face me!" Tung Lashor sputtered as the three of them stepped outside into the waste. He dashed out the door to see that his gang had surrounded the three of them. "Now do you see the might of Tung Lashor?"

An ear splitting screech filled the air and caused many of those who heard it to cover their ears. Tung Lashor looked over at the source of the noise and saw that it was coming from Catra scraping her nails against the bar's exterior.

Catra walked up to him and pulled him down to her height by the collar of his jacket. "Boo."

Tung Lashor gave a shrill scream and struggled out of his jacket like he was shedding a limb. Catra casually donned it as Tung Lashor regrouped with is gang.

"Alright, new jacket." She checked the pockets and pulled out a set of sunglasses. "Shades too. I need to come by here more often."

"You won't get away with this," Tung Lashor snapped. We've got you outnumbered!"

Bow, Glimmer, and Huntara huddled together in the center of the conflict.

"Bow, Glimmer, isn't that the cat who tried to kidnap us last time?"

"Yeah," Bow said. "But she's on our side for now."

"Oh." Huntara looked between Tung Lashor and Catra. "Well, we might as well enjoy the show."

Tung Lashor drew his whip and gestured at the his minions. "You dare stand against the full might of my gang? Our numbers have only increased after Hunatra foolishly broke the secrecy of the Crimson Waste and showed herself to be unfit for leadership!"

"Yeah yeah, you have a few more lackeys. Really impressive work scraping the bottom of the barrel." Mock clapping filled the air. "Look, I'm sure this is impressive to you, but I've been hanging around with gods and a small army of ruffians just doesn't to it for me anymore. Maybe you should just cut your losses and crawl back into your hole."

"Gods? Ha! Don't make me laugh," Tung Lashor sneered. "There is no such thing."

"Ooh, blasphemy. They don't like that. You should start praying for forgiveness." The shadow of a large bird with its wings outstretched flitted over them. "I'm serious, you should all get down on your knees. Now."

"What kind of bare-faced buffoonery is–"

The air around Tung Lashor exploded as Morning Star landed directly on him. Morning Star's hair stood on end as electricity streamed off of his body, knocking the other gang members off of their feet and turning the sand around them into glass. The electricity stopped once they had all been incapacitated, and he shook his head casually to let his mane fall back into place.

Huntara's jaw dropped as she stared at Morning Star. "He's beautiful."

"Thanks, you're not too bad looking yourself." Morning Star walked up to Catra and smacked her with his tail. "And you, you stop calling me a god. It's not a compliment."

"I want to ride him," Huntara breathed. "Please tell me we get to ride him."

Bow grinned. "That's what he's here for."

"What a cozy trip this'll be," Catra grumbled. "Or am I here because you're dumping me?"

"I wish," Glimmer sighed. "But we came to a tie and now Huntara gets to cast the deciding vote."

Catra's tail stood up straight. "You're leading me on. Go on, pull the other one."

Morning Star winked. "It's real."

Catra stared at Huntara with an equal mix of arrogance and trepidation. "So what do you say, big shot? You want me on your crew?"

Huntara looked Catra in the eyes. "Hm. I see rage. I see fear. But there's something else, isn't there?"

Catra abruptly turned away, but Huntara grabbed her chin and brought her head around.

"I can appreciate anyone who gives Tung Lashor grief, but I don't know if you're right for this."

Huntara sat cross legged on the ground. "Come on, talk to me. What's going on?"

Catra's heart started pumping; this was her only chance. "I… I want to beat Adora."

"You're a Horde soldier," Huntara said flatly. "You've already won."

"No I haven't! It's no good if I can't rub it in her face! She's either some sort of permanantly drunk idiot or a berserker infected by a murder-virus! She's not really Adora!"

Huntara narrowed her eyes. "So you're going to go against the Horde just so you can rescue Adora and show her you're better than her?"

"You know what? Yes. That's exactly what I want," Catra snapped. "Because it's the only thing that means anything to me anymore! Adora's always been special, she's always been destined for some great fate, but no matter what she goes on to do, I want her to remember that she owes it all to me!"

Huntara stood up and towered over Catra, with her shadow blotting out the sun. She stuck out her hand and grabbed Catra's own. "That's as good a reason as any. You've got my vote."

"W-well alright, it's about time someone recognized how bad-ass I am," Catra said.

Glimmer held her fist up in front of Catra's face. "Just don't make us regret it, or I will teleport you into the cold, hard vacuum of space."

Catra crossed her arms and smirked. "Oh, well if that's the way it's going to be then maybe I should refuse and go become Queen of the Crimson Waste."

Huntara grabbed both of them by their collars and sat them down on Morning Star. "Quit wasting my time and let's get to the fight!"

* * *

Mara's ship was now truly stripped bare of everything valuable. The computer terminals had been rooted out, and even the chair was gone. It was nothing more than a metal shell at this point.

"Oh, it's perfect," Tabula Rasa sighed as she surveyed the cockpit. "How it reminds me of the Hive back home! So simple and functional!" She dashed around the ship looking at every corner. "This could be a study, this could be a library, this could be a breakfast nook, and I could throw up webbing right here and turn it into a bedroom!"

"Yes, but what we need right now is for you to set up an environmental bubble for space-flight," Foxtrot said. "Alright, everyone find a comfortable spot. Perfuma, please grow some plants to help secure people and cushion them."

Perfuma scattered a handful of seeds around the ship and transformed them into lush greenery and vines. "Everyone strap in!"

"Fascinating!" Entrapta tugged at the vines. "I hadn't considered the possibility of organic spaceship components! Just think about how this would ease the burden on the life support as it replenishes the air and food supply!"

There was a horrible scraping sound as Huntara and Scorpia dragged the communication terminal into the cockpit. Bow quickly helped them steady it in a suitable alcove and plugged it into the ship.

"Wow, did it get more colorful in here!" Scorpia plucked a flower and sniffed it. "Ooh, lavender! Calming!"

Foxtrot turned the terminal on and spoke into it. "Mornin' Star, can you hear me?"

The speakers crackled as Morning Star's heavily distorted voice came in. "Affirmative."

He flew up in front of the cockpit and waved.

Entrapta waved back. "How is he doing that? I don't see a radio!"

Tabula Rasa chuckled. "One of his more useful features is that he doubles as an antenna for a wide range of electromagnetic frequencies. You won't believe the reception I can squeeze out of him!"

"Alright! Time to ride the lightnin'!" Foxtrot adjusted the gain on into the radio. "Hey Mornin' Star, We're going to need some precision flyin' in order to do this right and stay hidden by Etheria's moons. Think you can do it if I feed you instructions?"

"Get ready to ride the lightnin'; you're talkin' to the fourth best flier in the history of the Wonderbolts."

"Alright, then get us into orbit. I'll see if I can't figure somethin' out to compensate for our lack of instrumentation along the way."

Morning Star raised his front hooves to the heavens as electricity arced across his body.

A lightning bolt descended from the skies and engulfed him for several minutes. When died down. ball of lightning remained in the air above them. Tendrils of electricity lashed out and enveloped the ship; the hull shuddered and groaned as it was slowly lifted into the air.

_**"Per aspera ad astra!"**_

The ball of lightning shot up into the air, carrying Mara's ship with it. The occupants found themselves pressed against the floor by the acceleration until it felt like an elephant was standing on their chests. Eyes rolled up into skulls and many of the passengers were on the verge of passing out when the acceleration came to an abrupt stop and they all drifted away as far as their restraints would allow.

Foxtrot had remained standing throughout and calmly spoke into the radio. "Alright, we'll be nearin' periapsis soon enough. Stand by to initiate a powered flyby on my mark, and adjust your speed and vector accordin' to my commands."

"I can't believe it! We did it! We're going into deep space!" Entrapta reached out and hugged Hordak. "This is the best day of my life!"

Hordak held her close. "And hopefully not the last."


	13. Chapter 13: Assault Phase

The Helios was 300,000 kilometers away from Mara's spaceship. According to Foxtrot's calculations, they were traveling at 16 kilometers per second. This meant that they would arrive on target in just over 5 hours. That was 5 hours that multiple factions, some of whom detested each other, had to tolerate each other in close quarters. Fortunately, the only faction generating any significant friction was composed solely of Catra. She kept to her end of Tabula Rasa's soft green environmental bubble and scowled at anyone who drifted too close.

The airlock hissed open and Morning Star stepped into the cockpit, looking no worse for the wear. "That went well."

"Yes, we're on a direct collision course with Horde Prime," Foxtrot said. "Glimmer, Tabula Rasa, you have a short window between when we're in range and when the ship crashes into the cruiser."

Glimmer nodded. "I'll lend as much of my power as you want."

"That's the spirit!" Tabula Rasa chuckled. "Now just sit back and watch as I draw a spell circle and do some arcane calculus! We'll make sure you all sneak aboard yet."

Scorpia clasped her claws together. "Can I watch? Your math looks so pretty!"

"Always good to meet another math nerd," Tabula Rasa grinned. "I don't mean to go off on a tangent, but I find an appreciation of number theory integral to enjoying life!"

"Maybe, but you don't need to be so derivative with your humor," Scorpia said. "You don't want to be some square, do you?"

"Well, if you want to get to the root of the matter, I'd say your concerns are irrational and imaginary."

Catra threw up her hands. "Ok stop! I draw the line at math puns!"

Entrapta applaud. "Ooh, good one!"

"Oh for the love of–" Catra buried her face in her hands. "It's spreading!"

Bow raised an eyebrow. "Do you suppose it's a normal distribution?"

Foxtrot rolled his eyes. "Can we get back to business? These jokes are pushing the limit – ah horseapples."

"Urgh, this is worse than Bow's play-acting Catra!" Mermista groaned.

"Hey, it wasn't that bad."

"I'm sorry, you did what to me?"

Frosta tried, and failed, to stifle a giggle. "He acted out an entire dialogue with you when we were planning a battle! There were so many cat puns!"

Catra was beyond words and simply fixed Bow with a death glare.

"Heh, uh, in my defense… I didn't mean to be insensitive?" Beads of sweat appeared on Bow's forehead. "Ok, um, I would like to apologize because you've probably gotten enough of those jokes in your life and it was poor taste of me to have fun at your expense."

Catra untethered herself and floated right up to Bow. "You know what, archery guy?"

"Uh… no I don't know what?" he squeaked.

"I don't like you, and we're not friends. So you do you." She kicked off the floor and launched herself back into her corner of the ship.

"Ok, that's good to know…"

The others drifted into their own groups, leaving Catra by herself again. Catra did not mind it; she had spent a week in solitary confinement. Five hours would be nothing by comparison.

"Catra." She looked down to see that Rogelio had come over to her with Kyle in tow.

"Cadets."

"We're not cadets," Kyle said. "We defected, remember?"

"Right, of course you did." She frowned. "What is this, some sort of reunion?"

"We thought it would be beneficial to review battle plans." Rogelio pulled out a data-pad. "We have three objectives. Kyle, Hordak, Entrapta, and I will capture the transport. Foxtrot, Huntara, and the Princesses will secure the escape route. Scorpia, Bow, Glimmer, Swift Wind, and you will rescue Adora."

"Urgh, I have to go with those idiots?"

"Swift Wind can sense where Adora is. Bow and Glimmer are leading this mission. Scorpia has the second most amount of experience fighting She-Ra. Any other combination would be suboptimal."

"I liked you better when you were quiet," Catra grumbled.

"I don't doubt you did." Rogelio said cooly. "I suggest you make the best of our time here and work out a strategy with your teammates."

He and Kyle floated away to join Hordak and Entrapta, who were busy programming the data crystal. Catra looked around and saw that everyone was more or less getting along. Even Scorpia seemed to be having fun with Bow and Glimmer; they were gazing out the window at the moons of Etheria and making small talk as time went by.

Catra made her way over to them hesitantly. "Uh, hi."

Scorpia nodded at her curtly, while Bow and Glimmer gave half-hearted waves.

"What's going on?" Scorpia made room for her by the window.

"Well, I thought it would be a good idea if we talk about our tactics now. Like who gets to carry Entrapta's counter-virus. It should be me."

Glimmer's eyes narrowed. "Why you? I can just teleport up to Adora and tag her or the sword with it."

"Easy there, Glimmer." Bow put a hand on her shoulder. "It's never a bad idea to have multiple approaches! Let's hear Catra's idea."

"Unlike most of you, I specialise in hand to hand combat. If Adora goes berserk, we'll have to fight her. That means it's either me or Scorpia that engages her, and Scorpia's claws are too clumsy to handle that crystal."

"Maybe if we stuck it too my boots so I could kick her?" Scorpia did her best to perform a roundhouse kick in zero gravity. "Nah, that'd be too awkward."

"See? I'm your best bet if she goes berserk."

Glimmer rolled her eyes. "As if. You just want to rub it in her face."

Catra winked. "Well, maybe a little."

"What the... you are so infuriating!" Glimmer snapped. "Whatever, I doubt that Horde Prime gave her the sword. If he's smart, it's in an entirely different area of the ship altogether."

"So we'll have to track down the sword as well?"

"It's a secondary objective," Bow said. "Our priority is to get Adora out of there."

"That's fine," Catra nodded. "Just remember that if it comes to melee, I get the crystal."

* * *

The communication terminal flashed an endless stream of code as Entrapta ran simulation after simulation on its computer. Horde Prime's systems were formidable, but nothing was ever perfect, and she had identified several vulnerabilities in the short time that she had been onboard. Horde Prime was about to learn a valuable lesson in coding exploits.

"We're coming into range!" Entrapta pumped her fist into the air. "Everyone get into the teleportation circle and let this baby do its magic!"

"There's a spot for everyone," Tabula Rasa said cheerfully. "Just find your names!"

She gestured at the spell circle, whose complex web of arcane circuits and magic runes filled the center of the room. Each spot that someone had to be in contact with was carefully labeled with a sticky note. (It was unclear exactly where she had gotten the sticky notes from.)

Frosta promptly build an ice wall around the circle so that everyone could cling onto something solid and hold themselves in position. Mermista grasped the cold ice with one hand and touched her name with the other.

"So, do we do this?"

"Yes, but try to keep your fingers on the note. If you disrupt the circle it might not send you to the proper coordinates. You could end up in deep space or torn to atoms."

"Yikes!" Mermista kept her fingers rigidly pressed against the paper.

"Alright! Let's do it!" Entrapta hit a button on the terminal and pulled herself into the teleportation by her hair.

The computer executed her script and promptly flashed red.

"Uh, whoops!" Entrapta said.

Catra's eyes shot open. "What do you mean by whoops?."

Entrapta laughed nervously. "I think he might have sanitized his databases after that last hack."

"Well can you do anything about it?"

"No time! We'll just have to roll with it!" Tabula Rasa's horn glowed as she poured energy into the spell circle. "Glimmer, hit it!"

"Just roll with it?" Morning Star shouted. "We're going to be taking fire from a cruiser, we can't just–"

There was a flash of light, and they were all scattered to the winds as the shuttle slammed into the Helios with the force of two kilotons tons of TNT.

* * *

The bridge of the Helios shuddered as an unknown projectile exploded brilliantly across its forward shields. Warning sirens sounded as the light in the ship took on a distinct yellow hue. Captain Pallas turned to the navigation officer and scrutinized his screen.

"What was that?" he snapped.

"I don't know, sir! There was nothing out there!"

"Impossible, nothing doesn't cripple our shields!" Captain Pallas looked over at his executive officer. "XO, we are going to high alert! Arm all weapon systems, raise the shields to full power, and initiate hostile exfiltration protocols!"

"Aye aye!" The XO sounded the alarm and the lighting turned red. "Awaiting your orders!"

"We'll keep scanning in the meantime." He looked back at the radar station. "Initiate a broad frequency sweep and tell me what you see?"

Before the navigation officer could change any settings, he saw a pair of bright dots popped up on his screen. "Two bogies circling our formation!"

"Scramble the drones," Pallas shouted. "I don't know what's out there, but I want them gone!"

The frigates and cruisers opened their hangar bays and disgorged a swarm of spherical combat drones. They soared through the void faster than any piloted craft could accelerate and issued forth a cloud of laser beams and missiles.

Morning Star banked hard to the side and let the weapons fire rake the air behind him, while Tabula Rasa shielded herself within a sphere of emerald energy that absorbed the laser beams and missile blasts before it emitted dozens of fiery rays that swept through the drone formations and cut them to shreds. Morning Star rocketed into the tattered formation and released a dazzling burst of electricity that arced between the survivors and left them dead in the water.

Captain Pallas watched the dogfight play out on his viewing screen and smashed his fist on his chair. "Bring the main cannons to bear on the intruders! Don't stop firing until they're space-dust!"

* * *

The midship hanger bay was mostly empty as the majority of the spacecrafts and drones had already been deployed. The remaining pilots and maintenance crew stood at their stations on high alert as the battle raged on outside, ready to perform emergency repairs on any drones that returned. Their tense silence in the hanger promptly broken when Hordak materialized above a tool cabinet and dropped on it, scattering tools across the floor.

"It's the prisoner! Get him!" A pilot shouted.

The group reached for their weapons only to be swept aside by a barrel of fuel. Rogelio roared and threw another barrel at them as he charged forward with his stun baton. Hordak crawled to the safety of a nearby gunship and brought the ship online as a swarm of battle droids poured into the hanger.

"I need a gunner," Hordak shouted as he saw Rogelio dive for cover behind a forklift.

Kyle barreled into the gunship and found his way to the turret controls. He swept the lasers kacross the hanger, melting robots and hanger walls alike. He eased off the trigger to survey his work when the craft lurched forward from the weight of a battle droid landing on the cockpit, aiming its laser cannon right at them.

Lightning sparked across the back of the droid then powered down as Entrapta climbed to the top holding its innards over her head in triumph.

"Another resounding victory for SCIENCE!"

* * *

The crew of the Helios had served in numerous campaigns and bore witness to all aspects of warfare. They had exchanged broadside fire with vast fleets among the stars, coordinated furious atmospheric dogfights between the greatest pilots in the galaxy, and provided orbital bombardment in world spanning campaigns of conquest. However, few of these jaded veterans expected to see a spear wielding warrior riding an armored warhorse down the halls of their ship beating everyone in their way senseless.

"I am Huntara of the Crimson Wastes!" She roared. "Fight me, you cowards!"

She and Foxtrot knocked a team of security guards aside like bowling pins as their commanding officer ran down the hallway to activate the emergency lockdown. A heavy blast door slammed down behind him and put six inches of dense metal alloy between him and the enemy.

There was barely time to breathe a sigh of relief before two hoofprints appeared in the center of the door with a deafening 'bang'. He watched in a mixture of horror and awe as another set followed. The blast doors were supposed to be impenetrable for anything less than a dedicated team of sappers with heavy ordinance, but he had no intention of finding out if that was true or not and made a beeline for the nearest escape pod.

His fingers brushed against the access panel when he was jerked back by a vine around his ankle.

"Wow, looks like someone's leaving the party early," Mermista said dryly as she pointed her trident at his throat. "Why don't you stay a while and make yourself useful?"

"I would never betray Horde Prime," he spat.

Mermista shrugged. "Oh well, it was worth a shot. Perfuma, cast Giant Flytrap!"

The vines drew him around a corner and towards a giant carnivorous plant, whose drooling jaws opened wide enough to swallow him whole.

"Wait! Wait, I'll help! I'll help!" he shrieked.

"Good choice," Mermista chuckled. "Now, how about you lift that emergency lockdown?"

* * *

Swift Wind swept his horn around the corridor as he felt out Adora's location. The signal was faint, but he could sense that she was close by. Her emotional state was hard to read; he could sense very few feelings coming from her now. Whatever it was, it was better than the berserk fury that the others had described seeing when she was infected. (Although he had hoped to catch a glimpse of what 'drunk Adora' was like.)

"I can't believe that stupid bug put us off target again," Catra grumbled from behind him.

Bow shrugged. "Well, we're here, aren't we?"

"We should have been in and out in fifteen seconds tops," Catra snapped. "Every second we spend fumbling around is another opportunity for things to go wrong."

"Oh come on, I'm sure Swift Wind is doing his best." Scorpia stroked Swift Wind's mane.

"I am!" Swift Wind paused next to a section of wall. "Alright, here we are!"

Glimmer raised an eyebrow. "What, no door?"

"What good would it do if we don't know the passcode?" Catra said. "Come on, let's teleport in, grab what we need, and make a run for it."

"Alright," Glimmer nodded. "Swift Wind, let the other teams know we're on our way. Everyone else get around me."

"Stay safe, all of you." Swift Wind flapped his wings and flew down the corridor to find the others.

They held each other tightly as Glimmer performed a blind teleport into Horde Prime's lab. They popped into existence on the far side of a dark room filled with a dizzying array of scientific equipment and one raised throne-like chair in the middle of the room overseeing it all.

A dark figure sat on the throne looking down on them. Glimmer reflexively fired a burst of magic at it, which lit up the laboratory as bright as day, and gasped when she saw that the figure seated on the throne was not Horde Prime.

She-Ra stood up and leveled her sword at them. "Did you miss me?"


	14. Chapter 14: Molon Labe

Blood red crystal veins ran through the sword and She-Ra's flesh. Her eyes were full of a rage despite her cool voice, nothing at all like the bestial warrior they had fought last time. If the She-Ra who had tried to kill them in the icy north was a savage beast, this She-Ra was a cunning predator.

Bow nocked an arrow and leveled it at her. "Adora, drop the sword."

"My name is She-Ra," she snapped. "Adora is no more. Lord Prime has seen to it."

Glimmer clenched her fists and charged up her magical attacks. "I don't believe it! I know you're in there somewhere, Adora!"

She-Ra threw her head back and laughed. "Foolish child, nothing is beyond the abilities of the Master of the Universe!"

"And where is our exalted lord and master?" Catra gestured around the abandoned laboratory dramatically. "Did he run away with his tail tucked between his legs when a bunch of teenagers crashed his party?"

"Do you suppose Horde Prime conquered galaxies by fighting personally? It is he who dictates the time and place of his battles, not his enemies. We have been in constant contact with the rest of his armies through a dimensional portal, and Lord Prime simply withdrew his august presence when your clumsy attack began."

"Too bad, we could have killed two birds with one stone."

"Actually, we're still killing two birds with one stone," Scorpia said. "We've got Adora, and we've got the sword. Horde Prime would have been a third bird."

"If you want your precious birds, then come and take them!" She-Ra sneered as she stepped down towards them. "Let's see if you can stand before the might of the Horde!"

Catra's claws popped out and she stood in front of Glimme and Bow. "There's one of you and four of us."

"How true," She-Ra grinned. You should have brought more allies."

She-Ra lunged towards them and thrust her sword directly at Catra, who rolled to the side and let Glimmer knock She-Ra back with a concussive blast. Bow followed it with an arrow that released a bola that tied She-Ra's arms together. The elastic material strained to contain her strength; for a moment, it looked as if it would snap, but then Scorpia stung She-Ra with her venom and She-Ra fell to her knees.

"Well well, it looks like we're taking them."

Catra reached for the sword; the moment she touched it, She-Ra burst free of her bindings and grabbed a hold of Catra so that she could throw her into a containment pod. A forcefield sprang to life the moment it detected a new occupant and trapped her inside.

Glimmer appeared behind She-Ra to tag her with the counter-virus, but the flash of teleportation magic gave her away. She-Ra quickly elbowed Glimmer in the face to disrupt her concentration and promptly kicked into the pod next to Catra. Bow nocked another arrow in response, but She-Ra dashed towards him and cut his weapon apart with her sword before ramming him into the wall and knocking the wind out of his lungs.

She-Ra raised the Sword of Protection so that she could bring it down on Bow, but found her thrust arrested by Scorpia's claws clamping down on her wrists. "We never got to dance at Princess Prom, did we?"

Scorpia threw She-Ra into a computer terminal, which sparked brilliantly as it electrocuted her. "Oooh, pretty!"

The air was split by an unearthly scream as She-Ra pulled herself out of the electrified wreckage and charged at Scorpia with the bestial roar that they were all too familiar with. Scorpia blocked the Sword of Protection twice with her exoskeleton, but the third strike unleashed a devastating blast of energy that sent her flying back into the wall, where she slumped down next to Bow.

"Well well, where should I start? Should I kill Bow or Scorpia?" She-Ra turned to Catra and Glimmer. "Please, won't you help me choose?"

Gimmer pounded on the forcefield. "No, don't! Please, we'll surrender!"

She-Ra cocked her head. "But you have nothing I want."

"We have a god," Catra snapped. "And if you don't want to be smited, you'll put down the sword!"

"Oh Catra." She-Ra shook her head and turned on a display screen. "Where is your god now?"

* * *

A dodecahedral telekinetic sphere surrounded Tabula Rasa as weapons fire hit her from every direction. The Horde ships had weathered their surprise attack and their coordinated firepower was more than she could handle. They could have taken a frigate apiece, but the cruiser was now bringing the laser cannons, missile batteries, and mass drivers that ran up and down its length to bear on them. Tabula Rasa closed her eyes as the shield cracked before their onslaught; It would take everything she had to take on the Horde warships. She had to maintain focus.

"BY THE PILLARS OF EQUESTRIA, BY THE TWO SISTERS, AND BY THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY! BY TWILIGHTS'S SPARKLE, SUNSET'S SHIMMER, AND STARLIGHT'S GLIMMER! LEND ME THE STRENGTH TO SAVE MY FRIENDS AS YOU HAVE TAUGHT ME!"

The fabric of reality warped around her as she opened her eyes. Hundreds of missiles and kinetic projectiles ground to a halt while laser beams glittered faintly in the interstellar dust, frozen in position like the ships they had come from. Time had, for all intents and purposes, stopped as she sped up her own frame of reference.

Tabula Rasa surveyed the thousands of cubic kilometers that constituted the battlefield, then set about revising reality to better suit her needs. The incoming projectiles were torn to shreds before being hurtled back at the ships along with whatever drone wreckage she could find. With a flick of her horn, she wove an energy conversion field around herself as her state of temporal acceleration ended.

A barrage of laser fire converged on her location, only to circle around her like the light caught in the orbit of a black hole. She waited until the weapon debris was about to hit the ships before she released the captured energy and directed it at the ships. The lasers gouged angry red scars in the ship's shields as they were showered with debris. The shields collapsed as the ships were rocked with the force of their impact. Entire compartments were exposed to the vacuum of space and their contents were blown out of the ship, while smoke leaked out from the various gaping craters in the hulls.

The cruiser held steady and refreshed its shields, as did one of the frigates, but the second had been critically damaged by the attack and keeled over in space. Morning Star, who was little more than a streak of pure lightning at this point, closed hundreds of kilometers between him and the frigate in an instant, setting himself on a direct collision course.

* * *

Captain Pallas watched from a distance as the lightning bolt closed in on the frigate.

"Has the crew teleported off?" He asked calmly.

"Aye aye," the XO responded. "We are good to go."

There was a snifter of brandy in Pallas's hand. It was almost as old as he was and was only brought out on special occasions, such as a victory celebration or a funeral. This certainly seemed as appropriate a time as any. He raised the glass high and drank from it as the lightning bolt pierced the ship. Pallas watched on his screen as the scuttling charges detonated upon impact and saw a perfectly spherical shockwave propagated across space, as bright as a newly born star.

Explosions worked differently in space than on a planet. There was no air, so the only pressure wave that could be generated was that which came from the frigate's atmosphere. Space was a vacuum, so the heat of the explosion could not be transmitted far from the source. But the radiation was as intense as ever, and shrapnel formed a deadly cloud of fragments that could tear through even the heaviest armor.

* * *

The monitor in Horde Prime's lab showed that there were no lifesigns among the wreckage. She-Ra laughed in triumph as the others watched with various degrees of horror and shock.

"Now do you see the true might of the Horde? Horde Prime will crush your rebellion, conquer Etheria, and use its secrets to remake the universe in his image. It is a pity that you won't be around to see it. Then again..." She-Ra tapped on Catra's pod thoughtfully. "Perhaps I will keep you around as a pet. Yes, that sounds amusing. I wonder if the Sword of Protection can turn into a leash?"

"In your dreams!" Catra raked the forcefield with her claws to no avail.

"Oh Catra, you know me too well." She-Ra turned on the ship's intercom and called the bridge. "Captain Pallas, give me a situation report!"

"One bogie down and one to go," Pallas said. "The situation on the ship is contained for now. They've secured an escape route leading to the midship hanger, but we'll breach it soon enough."

"Perhaps they'll be foolish enough to try and fly out," She-Ra laughed. "Then we can just blast them out of the skies."

"One can only ho–"

The ship's intercom crackle with static and Pallas was replaced by a deep, heavily distorted voice.

**"I am the bright star of the morning, the son of the dawn, the bringer of light. My spirit has been tempered by the crucible of war, for it is bloodshed that sublimes all that is noble and smelts away all that is base. I am at long last liberated from the confines of my frail mortal shell. I am… **_**free**_**."**

Captain Pallas's heart raced inside his chest as he listened to the message. "Navcom, report! Where is that transmission coming from?"

"I… I don't know, sir!," the hapless technician said. "There's no signal!"

"Impossible! Track it! Curse your eyes, track it!"

The communications officer looked around his station in bewilderment. "Sir, it's… it's coming from inside the system?"

They barely had enough time to process the information before electricity shot out from the terminals and arced through his crew. It was impossible; the circuit breakers should have stopped a power surge from making its way this far into the bridge. Bodies dropped to the ground as electricity gathered in the middle of the bridge the form of a pegasus.

**"Lex talionis,"** it roared, as the bridge exploded.

* * *

The _Helios_ shuddered from the force of the explosion and the lights flickered as the emergency power took over. Swift Wind pressed close to Mermista as they looked around nervously.

"What was that?"

"It sounds like they killed Morning Star, and he's not takin' it well," Foxtrot groaned. "We need to go. Now."

Swift Wind looked at him as if he had just found a talking horse. "What? We can't! The others are depending on us to make sure they have a safe way out!"

Huntara nodded. "I agree! We can't retreat just because we're in a little danger!"

"It's not a little danger," Foxtrot snapped. "Fighting the Horde is a little dangerous. This makes as much sense as holdin' your position during orbital bombardment."

"But he knows we're onboard, right?" Perfuma said. "Wouldn't he, I don't know, be careful?"

"That depends on whether he sees us as friends or collateral damage. Now move, it ain't going to do the others much good if we're dead!"

* * *

The containment fields on the pods dropped for a brief instant as the power went out, but it was enough for Glimmer to teleport out. She-Ra promptly swept the space behind her with her sword, but Glimmer appeared behind Catra's containment pod and teleported it away.

"Fine! Run away!" She-Ra roared. "I still have your friends!"

She charged at Bow and Scorpia, only to see Glimmer appear between them and disappear with them in tow. She-Ra screamed in frustration. "You think this is over? I will hunt you and your pathetic friends down and paint the walls of the ship with your guts!"

Glimmer reappeared several rooms away and dumped Bow and Scorpia next to Catra's pod. They were in a storage that they had passed by earlier and safe for the moment, though the tremors wracking the ship were becoming more and more severe.

Catra climbed out of her disconnected pod and surveyed her teammates. "Well, we sure got our asses handed to us." She held out her hand at Glimmer. "Alright, you've had your turn. Now we try it my way. Hand over the crystal."

Glimmer hid it behind her back. "What makes you think I trust you with it?"

"Glimmer, this is not the time," Bow groaned from the floor. He tried to stand up and immediately clutched his chest. "I think I broke a rib."

"You and me both," Scorpia grunted. "Just breathe through the pain."

"Doesn't look like you have much of a choice, unless you want to face down a murderous eight foot tall brainwashed amazon."

"Alright, but I'm not leaving you alone with Adora," Glimmer said. "We're going to do this together!"

Scorpia staggered to her feet and put a claw on Glimmer's shoulder. "Hey, uh, I know you're worried about your friend, but if you go in there you're going to get slaughtered. Please let me and Catra take care of this while you get Bow to safety, alright? The Rebellion needs your mother, but it also needs you. At least it does more than it needs us."

Glimmer's eyes darted between the three of them as she struggled to make up her mind. Catra was a Horde soldier, and had devoted herself to climbing up the latter so that she could destroy the Rebellion and all that it stood for if Glimmer gave her the crystal. There was no way to trust someone like her with Adora!

But Adora had been with the Horde too when Glimmer and Bow first met her. Glimmer had kept the Sword of Protection from Adora even when it was clear that it was meant for Adora, and that she could save them from the danger they faced. It had been a mistake not to trust her then; was it the same with Catra now?

Glimmer slowly held out her hand and placed the crystal in Catra's palm. "Find her. Save her."

"You got it, Sparkles."

Bow and Glimmer disappeared in flash and left Scorpia and Catra by themselves in the closet. Catra opened the door and carefully checked for signs of She-Ra. So far, the corridor seemed empty.

Scorpia limped out of the closet and did her best to assume a battle stance. "Alright, so how are we doing this? Do we pull a double flanking maneuver, or do you need me to distract her?"

"Neither," Catra said. "You're in no shape to fight. You need to get to the transport too."

"What? And what are you going to do by yourself?"

Catra shrugged. "Win for once. I've got one shot at this and I'm not going to let anything stop me."

"But you said it yourself, you always win battles and lose wars…" Scorpia's eyes widened. "Catra, no!"

She lashed out with her tail, but Catra caught it and kicked Scorpia hard in her broken ribs. The searing pain sent Scorpia to her knees.

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…" Catra walked over to a nearby bulkhead and triggered the emergency lockdown. "Goodbye, Scorpia."

"Catra!" Scorpia shouted in pain and desperation as a heavy steel door cut her off from Catra.

* * *

She-Ra stalked the crumbling ship as she searched for her enemies. A smart opponent would have fled, but she knew that Catra would never back down from a fight with her, not even if her life depended on it. She was so predictable.

A metal serving platter promptly hit her in the side of the head and nearly knocked her headwear off. "Still wearing that dumb tiara?"

Catra's voice was answered with a blast of energy from the sword, but the beam sailed harmlessly into an empty doorway. Mocking laughter filled She-Ra's ears as she ran after Catra.

"You think this is funny?" She-Ra growled. "I'll rip your throat out!"

The doorway led to a darkened mess hall. It was smart of Catra to seek choose an environment that made full use of her sharper senses. She-Ra raised her sword and let its blood-red light bathe the room. Tables and serving stations were scattered around the floor, which provided ample concealment for an ambush. It would be easy to just blast the debris away, and Catra with it if she was there.

If.

It made no sense for Catra, a hand to hand fighter, to hide in front of her. If anything, Catra would want to ambush her from behind. She-Ra quickly turned around to see Catra descending on her from the ceiling with a long pipe in her hand. A normal person would have dodged the blow or parried, but She-Ra trusted in her inhuman durability to protect her and thrust the sword up to meet Catra.

The Sword of Protection skewered Catra through the lower left side of her chest and ran straight through the upper right section of her back. The pipe rolled out of Catra's hand and clattered onto the floor as She-Ra lowered the sword and pinned Catra into the floor. Catra tried to cry out in pain, but a good portion of the sword had cut into her lungs.

"What's the matter," She-Ra grinned. "Cat got your tongue?"

In response, Catra reached out with her other hand and touched the Sword of Protection with the data sword glowed bright blue as Entrapta's program interfaced with the runestone. The red veins on She-Ra and her sword throbbed angrily before they gradually withdrew into the sword. When it was finished, Adora was all that remained.

"Hey Adora," Catra said weakly.

Adora dropped down to her side and cradled Catra's head. "Catra! What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking about how to win. Duh." Catra coughed up a mouthful of blood from the effort of speaking.

The blood was coming in rapid spurts now as Catra's heart pumped faster to make up for the loss of volume. The scent was nauseatingly metallic; Adora almost threw up as she wracked her brain for any first aid training that might stop the bleeding. She took off her uniform and wrapped it around the blade to try and staunch the wound.

As she pressed down, she could feel Catra's body grow colder. "Come on, I need you to focus on me! You've got to stay conscious!"

"I've got to do this, I've got to do that." Catra's speech grew steadily more slurred. "Why don't you ever let me do things my way?"

"Because you can't stop the bleeding by yourself!"

"Wasn't planning on it." Catra reached out and stroked Adora's cheek with a clammy hand. "It's for the best, really. I get what I want. You get what you want."

Adora fought back tears as she held onto Catra's hand. "You think I want this?"

"Don't… don't be like that," Catra mumbled. "You'll get to be with your friends. They're waiting for you."

"You're my friend too, you moron!"

"You have new friends. You have better friends." Catra placed Adora's hand on top of the Sword of Protection. "Take the sword and go."

Adora stared at her in shock. "You'll… you'll bleed out if I do..."

"I'm already…" Catra's muscles spasmed and her claws dug into Adora's hand. "Adora, I'm dying. I'm... I'm dying… there's no reason you should… please..." Her breathing became rapid and shallow as her lungs struggled to draw in enough oxygen for the little blood that remained in her body. Her vision swam as she watched Adora stand up and tighten her grip around the sword.

This was it. Adora would take the sword and escape, leaving Catra to her fate. Catra's eyes glazed over and a faint grin appeared on her face. She had finally proven herself. It was such a shame that she would never see Shadow Weaver's face when she learned that Catra had outsmarted her favorite, but it was a small price to pay for victory.

Even if it meant that she would never see Adora again. Or make proper amends with Scorpia, who had put up with far too much of her attitude that Carry had a right to expect. Or see the world like she and Adora had always dreamed of since they were children. And there was so much of the world to see; even her recent adventures in the Horde had barely scratched the surface of Etheria. And Etheria was just one planet in an infinite universe.

Panic swept through her mind as she faded out of consciousness. There was so much she had yet to do and so much to live for that she would never get to experience. There would be nothing more for her from this moment on.

_Goodbye, Adora. _

* * *

The gunship was fully fueled and armed. The engines were warmed up and ready to fly. The only things missing were the rest of the teams. Bow and Glimmer were the first to arrive, followed shortly by the others as they ran from the explosions that continued to dot the ship.

Hordak scanned the groups as they converged on the craft. "Where's Adora? Where's Catra?"

"Probably fighting by now." Scorpia dragged herself into the troop compartment and collapsed in a seat.

"Then why aren't you with her?" Glimmer shouted, dropping Bow onto the ground. "You said you were going to help rescue Adora!"

"I tried, ok! Catra locked me out! She's taking She-Ra on by herself!"

Glimmer smacked her forehead. "I knew giving her that crystal was a bad idea."

"We can still help," Entrapta said. "Let's get out of the ship and find a point on the hull close to the lab! Glimmer can teleport people in to join the fight!"

"An excellent idea!" Hordak fired the engines and guided the gunship out of the hanger bay.

The space outside of the ship was filled with debris that glistened as it impacted their shields. Two shattered frigates floated in front of them a thousand kilometers away, surrounded by the wreckage of hundreds of drones. The control panel flashed red as Hordak turned the gunship back towards the ship as the few remaining weapon turrets locked onto them.

"Everyone brace yourselves!" He shouted. "Evasive maneuvers!"

Hordak banked left sharply to avoid a stream of mass driver projectiles. Kyle swung the gunship turret around and sent a barrage of laser fire at a swarm of missiles that were closing in on them. Several of them were cut apart by the lasers, but three passed through his field of fire. The first two slammed into the shield and knocked it out as the third scored a direct hit on the gunship's engines. The rear portion of the gunship disintegrated and exploded the troop compartment to the vacuum of space.

Bow reached out to Glimmer and their fingers brushed against each other before he was swept out of the ship. As he looked back at the remains of the ship, he could see Frosta and Mermista sealing it off with a wall of ice in the compartment.

Space was not as he had imagined it. High altitudes in Etheria were cold, but space was a vacuum and insulated him quite well. What he felt instead was a stabbing pain in his chest as the air in his lungs expanded and ruptured his alveoli. Bow cried out in pain and did his best to let the air escape through is mouth. He felt the strangest sensation as he did so: the saliva bubbled off of his tongue while his tears evaporated into the vacuum as well. He grew dizzy as his body used up the last of the oxygen in his bloodstream. As he lost consciousness, he swore that he could see an angel appear in a flash of light and hold his hand so that she could guide him to heaven.

Glimmer grasped Bow's hand tightly and teleported back towards the ship, but it was traveling away fast and she landed in its wake. She tried again and again, but she could never come close enough to enter the compartment. Soon the same dizziness that had beset Bow filled her head, and she watched the gunship sail out of her sight.

A green fire enveloped her and Bow, and the next thing she knew they were both gasping for air inside the gunship. Tabula Rasa hovered over them weakly, the carapace on her left side was cracked and warped from heat, while her eyes were bloodshot and her body was leaking ichor from innumerable wounds.

"What happened to you?" Swift Wind gasped. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she whispered hoarsely. "Just a little bit of radiation damage. Give me some time to pull myself together and I'll be alright."

"We don't have much of that," Foxtrot said. "We're flying half a ship, and we've got no power!"

"I'll think of something," Tabula Rasa mumbled. "I just need a moment."

"No pressure or anything, but, uh..." Entrapta pointed at the window. "You might want to hurry, there's something coming our way."

They looked out the window to see the last frigate split open in a series of brilliant explosions as beam of light shot through it heading directly for them.

"Everyone get around me!" Tabula Rasa clenched her teeth and projected another telekinetic sphere around the group as Morning Star struck their ship. The hull shook as electricity arced around the insides, and fell apart piece by piece until all that remained was a brilliant multicolored light surrounding them.

"I can't hold him off!" Tabula Rasa shouted. "Glimmer, do you still have magic?"

Glimmer laid a hand on Tabula Rasa's side. "Take my energy and get us out of here!"

An emerald flame engulfed the insides of the shield. For a moment, the occupants felt pulled into the spell, but then it died down as quickly as it came. The shift in Tabula Rasa's concentration allowed cracks to spread across the shield and run into each other until it seemed as if they were trapped in a spider's web. Tabula Rasa's horn began glowing bright white as she focused everything she had left on keeping Morning Star away from them.

"What was that? Why are we still here?"

"He's blocking my teleportation!" Tabula Rasa cried out in pain as horn began smoking.

The cracks spread further as her magic gave out and the shield shattered with a sharp ringing sound. The energy outside broke through the shield and surrounded them all in a prismatic vortex. Then, in an instant, it was gone and they found themselves scattered on the cliffs of Bright Moon, without even a cloud in sight in the sky above them.

"What... what just happened?" Foxtrot panted.

Tabula Rasa looked up at the sky and whispered. "He remembered."

* * *

The pool of blood around Catra had stopped growing; her heart could no longer pump what little blood remained in her body. Tears fell on her body as Adora realized Catra had died. Adora's eyes darted across the room, looking for something – anything – she could use to save Catra. There had to be a regulation medical kit around here somewhere, or an infirmary with an auto-doctor, or _something_.

Cell death would not set in for several minutes yet – the brain could go without oxygen for five minutes at room temperature before it started to suffer damage. Five minutes was all she had.

Her gaze drifted to an emergency station near the door. The medical kit had already been stripped of supplies, and the flickering holographic map next to it showed the nearest medical bay had been torn out of the ship. The only emergency resource she had access to was a solitary escape pod.

There was only one thing to do.

Adora drew the sword from Catra's body until it finally came loose with a horrible squelch. She steadied her trembling hands around the grip as she raised it above her head.

"For the honor of Grayskull! Let the power of She-Ra flow through me!""

A brilliant golden glow filled the room as Adora embraced the magic of the sword. Her training was incomplete, and she did not understand how to use the sword, but she had no choice but to try before Catra was lost to her forever. Adora pushed the thoughts of Catra dying out of her mind so that she could focus on what needed to be done.

She released the Sword of Protection and let it float above them. Bright blue beams of light covered Catra from head to toe; under its influence, her flesh knitted back together and her blood replenished itself. Catra's eyes shot open as her lungs gasped for air; she looked down at her chest to see that the wound in her side was now little more than a thin scar on her skin.

A dizzying amount of adrenaline flooded Catra's body and made her giddy with excitement. She jumped on top of Adora and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. "Adora you glorious idiot, you just couldn't let me have this moment, could you?"

Adora laughed and hugged Catra back. "It's not like it was my idea, I was going to pull it out and leave before the sword took over!"

The screeching of metal supports buckling under the weight of the ship abruptly brought them back to the real world. The _Helios's_ death rattle shook the shop and made it clear that they could wait no longer.

Catra let go of Adora and stood at arm's length. "So what now?"

"That's up to you," Adora said. "If you want to come with me, we can go back to Etheria. And if you want to try your own luck, then… then I hope you make it somewhere safe."


	15. Chapter 15: Trials and Tribulations

The escape pod left the _Helios_ and carefully navigated its way through the debris that now cluttered the space around it. The wreckage of dozens of escape pods were strewn about the battlefield, each with a cluster of bodies floating alongside it.

Adora turned away from the window in disgust and floated over to Catra, who was huddled in a ball near the rear of the ship. Combat was the most rigorous activity a person could engage in, and fatigue would often set in the moment the adrenaline wore off.

She gave Catra a gentle tap on the knee. "Catra, you're covered in blood."

"Yeah, my own." Catra shivered. "I didn't know I had so much."

"You've got over a gallon," Adora tugged at Catra's armor. "You need to– I mean, the blood is a biohazard; it should go in medical waste."

"Adora, if you wanted to get my pants off you should have just said so."

Adora blushed furiously as Catra undressed. The bloodied clothing needed to go into a sealed container, and Catra needed hygiene supplies. Fortunately, the supply cabinets of the escape pod were fully stocked; it looked like there would be enough supplies to last the two of them for months.

"Here you go." Adora handed an armful of supplies to Catra and held open a waste bag for her uniform.

Catra stuffed her clothing into the bag, but stared at the hygiene products suspiciously. "What are those for? How do you even know how to use them?"

"Well, there's instructions on the packaging..." Adora held up a packet of shampoo gel. "Says here to spread it on skin and hair, then remove it with a wet towel or sanitary wipe."

"Listen, I know you can't wait to get your hands all over me, but I figure I can lick it off since it's my own blood and all."

Adora grimace. "Catra, that's disgusting. And you wouldn't be able to get your back in any case."

"Fine," she grumbled.

Catra tore open a packet of shampoo and worked it into her skin while Adora spread it across her back. It was oddly soothing to have someone massage her back, even if Adora had elected to wear medical gloves while doing so. An unexpected purr escaped her lips as Adora's hands moved up to Catra's shoulders.

"Alright, that's enough!" Catra turned around to stop Adora, only to see a wicked grin on her face.

"I missed a spot."

Her hands shot out and applied a generous amount of shampoo on Catra's head. Catra froze as Adora's fingers massaged her scalp and ran behind her ears. It was so tempting to just relax and let Adora continue cleaning every inch of her.

Catra's eyes sprang open and she knocked Adora's hands away. "Hey, I said cut it out!"

Adora raised her hands and backed off. "I'm sorry, I–"

"Forget about it."

Catra cleaned herself off in silence while Adora nervously took stock of their supplies. It looked like they had enough bedrolls, hydration packs, ration bars, and jumpsuits for forty people.

She grabbed some food and jumpsuit. "Hey, uh, here's a change of clothing."

Catra took the jumpsuit wordlessly and did her best to put it on as it flailed about with a will of its own. After a few clumsy attempts, she held it out to Adora. "Hey, you want to be helpful? See if you can get this stupid thing to stay still!"

Putting in the suit seemed easy enough to Adora; she held the arms and legs of the suit in place as Catra shimmied her way in. The suit was a typical Horde one-size-fits-all affair, but even so it did not account for tails.

"Give me a moment, there's shears in the med-kit."

"Just watch your aim, I don't need a bobtail."

Adora carefully cut a hole in Catra's jumpsuit, which let her tail spring free of its confines. She waved it experimentally before deciding that she was satisfied with Adora's handiwork.

"Is there any food around here?"

"We've got ration bars if you want to chance it."

Catra took a red one hesitantly. "Oh wow, a new color. I wonder what culinary delights Horde Prime has in store for us!"

She bit into the rubbery bar and found that it was slightly sweet with an astringent aftertaste.

"Hey, it's not that bad!" She said with her mouth still half-full. "Well, aside from the texture."

Adora handed her a hydration pack and a napkin. "Probably because crumbs would be a nightmare in zero-gravity."

The water in the hydration pack was flat and tasted vaguely of electrolytes. Catra sipped on it in silence as Adora finished her meal. "So what now?"

"I don't know." Adora crossed her arms. "Are we still enemies?"

Catra curled up into a ball again. "Maybe? This has all been so confusing. Nothing has been like I expected."

"What did you think would happen?"

"I thought I made it when Horde Prime promoted me, but then Morning Star wrecked everything. Then I found out Light Hope decided to help you realize you needed to let go of me by pushing my buttons, and figured I was tired of being everyone's puppet."

"Wait, Light Hope did what!?"

"She put us through those memories. She put knowledge into my head when I was… not myself. All so I'd lash out at you."

Adora reached out to Catra and waited for permission to hug her. When Catra did not respond, she took it as a sign to continue.

"I'm sorry. You shouldn't have gone through that." Adora looked into Catra's mismatched eyes. "But you still made those decisions, Catra."

Catra sighed. "That's what Light Hope said too. And she was probably right, but I was so fed up with being played by everyone so many times that I just wanted out of it all."

"And you thought dying in combat was a good idea?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think it would be so..."

"Painful?"

Catra shook her head. "No, I can take pain – Shadow Weaver saw to that. But passing out knowing knowing I'd never wake up, that I'd leave all this behind forever? That was frightening."

Adora raised an eyebrow as Catra gestured at their surroundings. "The escape pod?"

"No you dummy! Etheria! The Universe! Scorpia!" She paused for a moment. "You."

Adora tightened her grip. "Last week you tried to _erase all of existence._"

Catra's ears flattened themselves against her head. "I get it, alright? I'm a bad person!"

Adora tilted Catra's head up. "Do you want to be?"

"What?"

"You said you were tired of being manipulated. Well, Shadow Weaver and Light Hope aren't going to touch you after this – I'm going to make sure of it. And I'm not going to capture you for the Rebellion or tell you what to do with your life. But I do want to know what you really want – what's important to you?"

"I want..." Catra closed her eyes. "I want to be free. I want to be someone. I want Scorpia to be happy. And… well, as long as I'm making a wish list, I'd like it if you don't waste my time by getting yourself killed or captured again, because I won't be around to save you next time."

Adora sighed. "I suppose you won't."

* * *

The escape pod came with a preprogrammed set of landing coordinates based off of known Horde bases on Etheria. While there was the option to pilot it manually, neither of them knew how to fly it safely. Of the various options available, Bright Moon seemed the best. Descending into the Fright Zone itself was suicide, and at least she knew the terrain of Bright Moon well enough that they might be able to fend for themselves and escape.

They crashed in an abandoned marketplace and kicked open the escape hatch ready for anything. What they found was a group of civilians leveling polearms at them.

"Adora! Wildcat!" Scorpia barreled her way through the militia and caught them both in a bear hug. "You made it back! I was so worried! Not that I doubted you or anything, Catra."

Catra settled into the hug with a sense of resignation. "It's good to see you too. What happened here in Bright Moon?"

Scorpia set them down on a pile of crates. "Well, funny thing about that. After Morning Star destroyed the fleet, the Horde pulled back from lack of support. The fact that a bunch of civilians started revolting probably helped them make that decision. So we're in the clear for now."

"I'm sorry," Adora said. "Morning Star?"

"You know, the lightning horse."

"Right. What happened to him?"

"He's gone." Tabula Rasa's badly burnt body limped into view with Swift Wind and Foxtrot supporting her. "Whatever part of him that was mortal died in nuclear fire."

Adora bowed her head. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"We'll see. I think something of him might have survived. I don't know where he is or how I'm going to get there, but I know my friend needs me. So I'm going to go find him."

She nuzzled Swift Wind. "You've got your friend back. Take good care of her." A twig snapped off of the tree above them and wove itself into a dreamcatcher. "Here, keep me in your thoughts and dreams. Maybe we'll see each other again."

Foxtrot nodded curtly to him and the two disappeared in a flash of white light.

Adora slid off the crate and hugged Swift Wind. "You've been busy, haven't you?"

"It was quite the adventure. I'll have to tell you about it sometime." He wrapped his wings around her. "It's good to have you back, Adora."

"It's good to be back." Adora hoisted herself onto Swift Wind. "Can you take me to Bow and Glimmer?"

"They're up in the palace with Angella." He glanced over at Catra. "What about her?"

"You don't need to worry about me, I'm off to the Crimson Waste." Catra put a hand on Scorpia's shoulder. "You want to come with me?"

Scorpia shook her head. "Sorry, but I'm throwing my lot in with the Rebellion. Horde Prime's going to come back sooner or later, and I don't think he'll be in a merciful mood when he does. I'd rather fight than hide."

"Oh." Catra backed away from Scorpia and bit her lip. "Adora… I want to surrender."

"What? You were going to go to the Crimson Waste just a moment ago."

"Upon reflection, I don't need any more jackets. And since I can't go back to the Horde I might as well stay here."

"Catra, I don't get to decide your fate. For all I know Bright Moon will bring out pitchforks and torches."

Catra shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to see, won't we?"

Swift Wind perked up. "Oh, then I have some good news: You won't believe who I found on my adventures! No, it'd be best if I showed you: hop on!"

He stretched out his wings and carried them up to the throne room, where Queen Angella reigned once again. Most of their allies were in the room with her and gasped when they saw Adora. Bow and Glimmer ran up to her and all but tackled her off of Swift Wind.

"You made it back! We won!"

"The Best Friends Squad is back in action!"

Adora embraced them tightly. "Bigger and better than ever!"

She looked at Queen Angella and bowed her head. "It's good to see you too, Queen Angella. I thought we'd lost you forever."

"You gave us quite the scare yourself." Angella came down from her throne and hugged Adora herself. "In the end, it looks like we all came together to save each other."

Catra slid off of Swift Wind and backed up from the group, but Glimmer quickly caught her wrist. "Catra… thanks for rescuing Adora."

"Yeah, well… whatever." Catra broke free and leaned on Swift Wind. "So what happens now? Are we going to be all buddy-buddy? I see Hordak and Entrapta over there in the corner. I guess we're all friends now or something?"

Queen Angella let go of Adora and walked over to Catra. "We are… grateful that several members of the Horde elected to help us in our struggle. Though this does not mean the Rebellion forgives you, we are willing to take this into account during your trial."

Catra sighed. "So should I get a lawyer, or is one going to be provided for me?"

* * *

The citizens of Bright Moon gathered in the city's amphitheater. By all accounts, it would be the trial of the century: Hordak and his most fearsome lieutenants would be tried and sentenced for their crimes against Bright Moon, the Rebellion, and Etheria today.

Hordak stood in front of the docket and was as imposing as he had been portrayed. His minions were less so: Entrapta, Princess of Dryl, was the furthest thing from an intimidating sight, and even Catra, who had lead the siege of Bright Moon, was nothing more than a young girl.

Queen Angella was at the head of the tribunal and was flanked by the Princesses of the Rebellion. She rose as the proceedings started, and spoke to the crowd.

"Citizens, I have convened this trial for the benefit of Bright Moon and the Rebellion. Although we have captured Horde soldiers in the past, their proceedings have never been conducted in a public manner. But as the Rebellion grows in strength, we will need to confront the question of how to handle Horde captives. I have therefore invited you all here so that you may understand the goals and values of the Rebellion."

She looked down at Hordak. "Hordak, your crimes are difficult to fully list; the war against the Horde has stretched over many years According to both tradition and law, as the leader of the Horde on Etheria, you are not afforded any protections that the ruler of a legitimate state or kingdom would be. Your legal status is on par with a warlord or bandit chief. We would be well within our rights to sentence you to death. Do you understand this?"

The crowd cheered as Hordak returned her gaze firmly. "I do."

"Fortunately, we are beyond the age of _lex talionis,_ where retribution _w_as the defining characteristic of the law. We do generally aim to allow individuals a chance to make restitution for their actions. Would you be willing to do so if we extended an offer to you?"

"I…" He glanced over at Entrapta. "Yes, I would.."

"Very well. On behalf of the Princess Alliance, I hereby sentence you to exile in Dryl. It is our hope that you will be able to use your time there to make amends for the damage you have inflicted upon Etheria."

There was a wave of angry shouting from the crowd, but it died down when Angella glared at the onlookers.

"I accept your judgement," Hordak said. "But isn't Dryl…"

"Oh hey, I know that place! That's my kingdom! Or… is it a principality? You know, because I'm a princess." Entrapta tapped her chin. "Wow, I really should know this, shouldn't I?"

"It's a kingdom." Angella coughed and moved on to the next proceeding. "Princess Entrapta, you have worked for the Horde and helped Hordak achieve much of his recent progress. However, due to the longstanding treaties between the kingdoms of Etheria, repercussions would be levied against your kingdom. As it consists of a handful of servants, we do not believe legal action would be the best approach. We are willing to forgo it if you also use your talents to aid Etheria in a manner that the Rebellion deems fit."

"Sure thing!" Entrapta's hair gave them a big thumb's up. "But I'd prefer to stick to something like tractors instead of weapons. I think I've had enough of that sort of thing for now."

"Is this really what you want?" Hordak whispered. "You could be free."

"Oh, I'm happy as long as I'm doing science," Entrapta said. "Besides, I'll have my lab partner around to help me, right?"

The audience was unsure of how to react, but Entrapta was nothing compared to the last prisoner, who had done much more damage to them personally.

Queen Angella turned to Catra. "Force Captain Catra. The list of crimes against Bright Moon that you have committed is short, but quite serious. Kidnapping a member of the royal family. Leading an invasion. Trespassing in the Whispering Woods and stealing First One's artefacts. You understand that the penalty for these crimes are quite serious?"

"I understand." Catra did her best to put thoughts of an execution out of her head, even though she knew that it would be nothing to the Rebellion. She was not like Entrapta or Hordak, who had invaluable skills.

"Several individuals, including Adora and my own daughter, have argued for clemency. But I am also under the impression that you are not inclined to accept it."

Catra braced herself against the table and steeled her gaze. "I did what I did."

"Yes, I suppose so," Angella said. "Nevertheless, you did help us rescue Adora, and you have shown yourself capable of change. I hereby sentence you to imprisonment in the castle of Bright Moon, until such time as I see fit to release you."

"As you wish." She looked down at the table as the audience broke into applause. It was better than death, but her tenure in the Fright Zone's prison was one of the most unpleasant experiences she had ever had. Still, she would be closer to Scorpia and Adora – if only in theory.

A pair of guards flanked her and guided her away from the amphitheater to the castle. Adora was waiting for her in front of a set of heavy double doors. The guards saluted her and left Catra in her custody,

Catra cocked her head. "Adora, am I ever going to be rid of you?"

"Not for a while." Adora opened the doors and led Catra into the holding cell.

Bright Moon evidently had a greatly different idea of what constituted a prison. Catra could see a four-poster bed in the center of the room, along with a sofa, a desk and several comfortable chairs.

Catra wrinkled her nose/ "Cushions? Really?"

"You sound disappointed."

"Well, to be honest, I was expecting whips and chains." Catra frowned. "Really, Adora, you shouldn't have done this."

"It's not some special privilege if that's what you're thinking. Shadow Weaver got the same treatment."

Adora tensed up immediately as she realized how badly Catra had reacted to Shadow Weaver's name in the past, but this time Catra simply shrugged and tested out the bed. "Well, at least the mattress is hard."

"I thought you'd like it. I could never get used to the fluffy stuff." Adora sat down next to Catra. "Look, it's getting late. Do you feel comfortable here? If being alone is a problem…"

"Wow, you just can't wait to sleep with me, can you?"

Adora smacked her on the head with a pillow. "I was just offering because being alone was rough on me when I first got here! But if you're going to be that way–"

"Alright, I'm sorry!" Catra said. "You can stay here with me if it'll make you feel safer. Catra will protect you."

Adora rolled her eyes. "I regret this decision already."

Catra wrapped an arm around Adora's waist and pulled her onto her back. "So, are you going to tell me a bedtime story?"

"Sure, why not?" Adora threw an arm around Catra's shoulder. "You want to hear about what Swift Wind was up to while we were fighting?"


	16. Chapter 16: Loose Ends

Catra rode on Swift Wind as Scorpia, Bow, Glimmer, and Adora walked in front of her. Normally Catra would have been happy to avoid the rigors of travel, but being blindfolded and in chains put a damper on her spirits. They had traveled through mountains and over plains until they arrived at a cliff overlooking a mist filled gorge.

Swift Wind galloped off the cliff and spread his wings so that he could fly into Mystacor, while the others hopped onto a floating rock behind him. They landed inside the illusion in front of an assembly of sorcerers.

"Welcome to Mystacor!" Castaspella said. "We've been looking forward to your return!"

"Ooh, you're Glimmer's aunt! Wow, it's so great to meet you!" Scorpia did her best to shake Castaspella's hand. "I think that makes you my third aunt in law twice removed!

"I don't doubt it." Castaspella ended their handshake politely and looked over at Catra. "What's she doing here?"

Adora helped Catra off of Swift Wind. "I thought it would be better to keep a close eye on her, you know."

"Hm." Castaspella looked skeptical, but chose not to challenge Adora. "Just make sure you and Glimmer keep her out of any sensitive areas."

For a second, Catra looked as if she might say something regrettable, but she held her tongue and nodded politely. "Thank you for your hospitality, Castaspella."

Castaspella reached out and undid Catra's blindfold. "I hope that you enjoy the healing waters of Mystacor as much as the rest of us."

"So this is Mystacor." Catra looked around at the opulent enclave. "Seems nice enough."

"And full of ADVENTURE!"

Catra jumped into Adora's arms. Scorpia darted behind Swift Wind. Bow and Glimmer clung onto each other.

"My apologies, I seem to have startled you," Sea Hawk said. "I see that my cat-like tread has once again evaded everyone's notice."

"Well hey there, buddy!" Scorpia hugged him. "What are you doing here?"

"I decided to spend some time here after delivering the Horde prisoners to Mystacor. Such a lovely city, isn't it?"

"So Shadow Weaver's here?" Catra growled.

Adora saw Catra tense up and took hold of her hand. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. Who cares about Shadow Weaver?" Catra jerked her head towards a nearby market. "Come on, let's go take in the sights."

Bow stepped in front of her. "Or, better yet, we try to unwind a bit! It's been a long week and I think the Steam Grotto is just the thing for us!"

Catra's ears twitched. "What, do you plan on cooking yourselves?"

"Come on, you've never been in a hot tub or anything?"

"A hot… what?" She looked at Adora in confusion. "You can bathe in hot water?"

"Count me out," Swift Wind said. "I need some time to myself."

Adora kissed him on the forehead. "Take good care of yourself."

The rest of the group followed Bow and Glimmer into the Steam Grotto. It was a natural chamber in the floating rock that Mystacor was built upon, where water heated by unknown means warmed the air. They split apart once again as Bow and Sea Hawk went to the men's changing room, while Glimmer led them to the women's side.

An attendant was there to meet them, and handed out several bathing suits. Catra looked at them in confusion and watched as Glimmer put one on. "You get dressed up to take baths around here?"

"It's not really a bath in that sense," Glimmer said. "Ever use a heat pack on a sprained muscle?"

"Ah, therapy. Got it." Catra looked at her handcuffs. "So how is this going to work?"

Glimmer drew out a key and undid the cuffs. "You get changed and follow the rest of us."

"What, just like that?"

"Well, you've been much less of a pain this time around."

Catra was unsure of what to say, so she simply nodded and waited for Glimmer to leave before fumbling with her bathing suit. She examined the garment closely; it seemed rather flimsy and insubstantial. After a moment, she glanced over at Adora, who had already gotten changed."Uh, Adora? How does this thing work?"

"Well, first you put on the shorts. Then you put on the top…"

"I know that! But look at this!" She held up the bathing suit. "This isn't covering much."

Adora raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you become Ms. Modest?"

"You know what? Never mind." Catra shrugged off her jacket and reached for the top, only for Adora to gently place her hand over Catra's own.

"Hey, don't take it like that. You should be comfortable." Adora took the swimsuit away from her. "I'll talk with the attendant and find something else while you get undressed ok?"

"Thanks, Adora."

Catra watched her leave and caught a good eyeful of Adora's back, which now had eight long scars running down its length. Scars that she had left. The claw on her right index finger popped out and she pressed her thumb into it. Her skin broke without much effort and a drop of blood quickly appeared. She had meant to hurt Adora at when they fought at Salineas, determined to make her feel the same pain that she had inflicted on Catra when she left.

The air suddenly seemed heavy as Catra's lungs struggled to breathe again. She sank to her knees and tried to steady herself against the wall as the world swam around her.

"Catra, what's going on?" Adora grabbed her by the waist and helped her onto a short bench. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." Catra's voice shook slightly, but she managed to keep it mostly suppressed. "I think it was just the heat and humidity."

Adora looked at her skeptically, but chose not to press the issue and handed her a new bathing suit. "Alright, then. Let's get changed and head out."

* * *

Although water was necessary for life, Catra had a long-distance relationship with it outside of meals. Humans had skin, but Catra was covered by fur and the water would always soak into it and drain her body heat as it slowly evaporated. Then afterwards, she'd have to fix her matted fur so she was presentable again.

That being said, soaking in a hot spring was on the more enjoyable end of things. Catra leaned back against Adora and let the heat spread through her sore muscles.

The gentle clinking of ice cubes caught her attention; she opened her eyes to see that Scorpia and Sea Hawk had brought a chest full of bottles packed with ice.

"Let us not forget about the importance of hydration!" Sea Hawk pulled a bottle of sparkling water out and handed it to Catra.

"Fancy." Catra popped the cap open with her claws. She hesitated for a moment, then handed it to Bow.

"Oh, uh, thanks?" Bow took a swig out of the bottle. "Ooh, mineral water."

Adora looked over at Scorpia. "Scorpia, do you want to, um, join us?"

"I suppose a soak would be good for me." Scorpia stepped into the pool but kept herself away from Catra.

Catra bit her lip. "Scorpia… I know I haven't been… ok, I threatened to get rid of you. That wasn't right. Where do we go from here?"

"Wildcat, you're someone I care a lot about. But I'm not sure we should be friends because… well, you hurt your friends, Catra. You need someone to help you and be there for you. Maybe Adora can be that person – I can tell you two have something special – but not me."

Catra tensed up against Adora; Scorpia was right. Everyone who had called her a friend had suffered for it. "That's…that's fair..."

She buried her head in Adora's shoulder and let her tears mingle with the sweat on Adora's skin. Adora gently stroked Catra's hair while Glimmer took Bow by the hand and they quietly drifted out of the way. Sea Hawk tapped Scorpia on the shoulder and whispered something in her ear.

"I really mean a lot to you, don't I?" She said to Catra.

"Yeah," Catra sniffed. "I guess you do."

"Why?"

"Because I can trust you. Because I know you're one of the few people who doesn't want to use me."

"But does that mean you won't use me?"

"It doesn't," Catra said bitterly. "And I did."

Adora looked over Catra's head at Scorpia. "Scorpia, if you don't want to ever be hurt again that's your decision. I know what it feels like. Just… don't make your decision based on fear, alright? Because that's not good for anyone."

"You know what, Adora? I'm disliking you less and less." Scorpia ruffled Adora's hair and then, after a moment's hesitation, gave both of them a hug. "You kids have fun."

She swam off to a more remote corner of the grotto and left Catra and Adora alone together. Catra gently pressed her fingers into the scars on Adora's back and looked down at the water.

"Scorpia was right. I do hurt my friends."

Adora lifted Catra's chin up. "Is this why you were having a panic attack in the changing room?"

"Yeah. I mean… Adora, you have scars now. You shouldn't want anything to do with me after that."

Adora put a hand on the spot where the Sword of Protection had pierced Catra's side. "I've given you scars too."

"That's different. That wasn't you."

"Well, the person who gave me those scars isn't the person with me here either. Just like how neither of us are the kids we used to be. Time goes on and people change."

"For better and for worse, I suppose. How can you tell the difference?"

"Well, we're talking about it now, aren't we?"

"Life seems a lot… shorter now," Catra mumbled. "And I don't want to leave any unfinished business behind if – well, when – I die."

"Then it's a good thing that we still have time to sort it all out." Adora held her pinky out to Catra. "We're not kids anymore, but if you want to, we can still stand together against everything life will throw at us."

Catra reached out and linked her pinky with Adora's. "Alright. Together."

* * *

Mara's body floated on a bed of magical crystals as the sorcerers of Mystacor scoured her being for signs of injury or illness. They had the accumulated experience of a thousand years of healing, but the hardships that Mara had endured were beyond anything that had ever been seen in Etheria before. All they could say was that, with the proper spells, Mara could be sustained indefinitely, but nothing showed signs of waking her.

There was only one thing left to try: the power of Grayskull.

"Alright, time to shine," Adora whispered. "Let's see if I can pull a hat trick."

Catra kissed her on the cheek. "You've got this."

Bow gave her a thumb's up. "We're behind you all the way! The Ultimate Pal Squad has got your back!"

Adora stood in front of Mara with the Sword of Protection floating high above them. Her friends stood around her joining hands (or wings in Swift Wind's case) to support her as she focused the healing energy of the sword on Mara. Mara's eyelids fluttered as soothing blue light washed over her. She opened them slowly and gazed at the faces of those surrounding her.

"What? Where am I? Who are you people?" Her eyes locked onto the Sword of Protection and Adora. "She-Ra? No… you can't be here!"

* * *

Horde Prime replayed the combat footage endlessly aboard the _Armada's Crown. _The expeditionary fleet's foray into Despondos had not gone as planned, but it had yielded valuable data nonetheless. The screen froze on the image of bloodthirsty She-Ra impaling Catra with the Sword of Protection. It was unfortunate that he had not considered the possibility of a counter-virus, but he had all the time in the universe to devise a better plan.

"She-Ra, hm? I think I may need to call in some expert assistance." He brought up the image of one of his lesser minions and recorded a message. "Skeletor, I may have something that could help you in your war against Castle Grayskull. Come, let us meet."


End file.
